Medical COmmunicators 
Abstracting
    Abstracting of clinical articles is another service provided by Medical Communicators. The samples below were used by a client on a CD-ROM they produced that included not only the abstracts, but links to the articles themselves.

Renal Failure

     1.0FHolley, Jean L., M.D., et al., "Thallium Stress Testing Does Not Predict Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetic Patients with End-Stage Renal Disease Undergoing Cadaveroc Renal Transplantation," The American Journal of Medicine, Vol. 90, May 1991.

      This study assessed the usefulness of thallium stress testing as a predictor of cardiac risk in diabetic end-stage renal disease patients undergoing cadaveric renal transplantation. Thallium stress testing allowed 45% of the patients to avoid cardiac catheterization prior to transplantation. The relatively low predictive value of this test in this population suggests the need to develop a more cost effective, non-invasive screening test.
 
 

     2.0FLatner, Barry P., et al., "Measuring Creatine Kinase MB Isoenzyme in a Maintenance Hemodialysis Population: Chemiluminomitric Immunoassay and Electrophoresis Compared," Clinical Chemistry, Vol, 35, No. 9: pp. 1965-1968, 1989.

      The article compared the performance of a new chemiluminometric immunoassay of CK-MB with that of electrophoresis on agarose gel. The researchers evaluated the CK profile of 84 persons undergoing chronic maintenance hemodialysis. Results of the new method correlated well with those of the electrophoretic method as neither serum substances nor CK-MM enzymes gave false-positive increases in CK-MB enzyme. Chemiluminometric method may be more specific than electrophoresis in establishing absolute CK-MB values for diagnosis of suspected myocardial injury.

      4.0FMedeiros, Jeffery L., M.D., et al., Reliability and Significance of Increased Creatine Kinase MB Isoenzyme in the Serum of Uremic Patients," American Journal of Clinical Pathology, Vol. 87, No. 1: pp. 103-108, January 1987.

       In this study, the authors quantified CK-MB enzyme activity and mass in the serum of 81 uremic and 20 control patients with no indication of acute AMI. All uremic patients were followed for hospitalization for cardiac disease. When found, elevations of CK-MB above reference range appear to be associated with an increased risk of cardiac disease. Therefore, the authors conclude quantification of CK-MB is more reliable than implied in the literature.

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