Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here for more infromation

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Nutrition in Clinical Practice
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Schreiber, B.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Schreiber, B.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?

Invited Reviews

Levocarnitine and Dialysis: A Review

Brian Schreiber, MD

Dialysis Care, Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Correspondence: Brian Schreiber, MD, 2414 Forest Manor Court, Neenah, WI 54956. Electronic mail may be sent to bdschreib{at}new.rr.com.

Among the various metabolic abnormalities documented in dialysis patients are abnormalities related to the metabolism of fatty acids. Aberrant fatty-acid metabolism has been associated with the promotion of free-radical production, insulin resistance, and cellular apoptosis. These processes have been identified as important contributors to the morbidity experienced by dialysis patients. There is evidence that levocarnitine supplementation can modify the deleterious effects of defective fattyacid metabolism. Patients receiving hemodialysis and, to a lesser degree, peritoneal dialysis have been shown to be carnitine deficient, as manifested by reduced levels of plasma free carnitine and an increase in the acyl:free carnitine ratio. Cardiac and skeletal muscles are particularly dependent on fatty-acid metabolism for the generation of energy. A number of clinical abnormalities have been correlated with a low plasma carnitine status in dialysis patients. Clinical trials have examined the efficacy of levocarnitine therapy in a number of conditions common in dialysis patients, including skeletal-muscle weakness and fatigue, cardiomyopathy, dialysis-related hypotension, hyperlipidemia, and anemia poorly responsive to recombinant human erythropoietin therapy (rHuEPO). This review examines the evidence for carnitine deficiency in patients requiring dialysis, and documents the results of relevant clinical trials of levocarnitine therapy in this population. Consensus recommendations by expert panels are summarized and contrasted with present guidelines for access to levocarnitine therapy by dialysis patients.

Nutrition in Clinical Practice, Vol. 20, No. 2, 218-243 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0115426505020002218
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Nutr Clin PractHome page
D. Charney and P. Charney
Dogma and the Renal Patient
Nutr Clin Pract, April 1, 2005; 20(2): 159 - 161.
[Full Text] [PDF]