Document Detail


Two cases of severe hypoalbuminemia (<10 g/L).
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  19487103     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
OBJECTIVE: Hypoalbuminemia is known to occur in critically ill patients and is associated with increased mortality. Severe hypoalbuminemia is defined in the literature as serum albumin levels lower than 24 g/L. METHODS: Albumin levels were measured in our laboratory using the bromocresol purple method on the Synchron CX9 (Beckman Coulter); the lower detection limit on this apparatus is 10 g/L. RESULTS: We report two cases of severe hypoalbuminemia with levels lower than 10 g/L-one in a complete paraplegic patient with severe pressure ulcers and the other in a patient positive for the human immunodeficiency virus with chronic renal failure. CONCLUSION: Although cases of severe hypoalbuminemia (<10 g/L) are very rare in the literature, chemical pathologists should be aware of the causes of serum albumin levels of this magnitude. These cases describe two different disease states that lead to severe hypoalbuminemia by means of a similar underlying cause, namely severe inflammation or infection.
Authors:
Annalise E Zemlin; Lesley J Burgess; Andries Engelbrecht
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Case Reports; Journal Article     Date:  2009-05-31
Journal Detail:
Title:  Nutrition (Burbank, Los Angeles County, Calif.)     Volume:  25     ISSN:  1873-1244     ISO Abbreviation:  -     Publication Date:  2009 Oct 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2009-09-04     Completed Date:  2009-09-24     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  8802712     Medline TA:  Nutrition     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  1006-10     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical Pathology, National Health Laboratory Service, Tygerberg Hospital, Stellenbosch University, Parow, South Africa. azemlin@sun.ac.za
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Adult
Anemia / complications
Blood Protein Electrophoresis
Bromcresol Purple
Female
HIV Infections / complications
Humans
Hypoalbuminemia / etiology*,  mortality
Indicators and Reagents
Kidney Failure / complications
Male
Nephelometry and Turbidimetry
Pressure Ulcer / complications
Serum Albumin / analysis
Spectrophotometry
Chemical
Reg. No./Substance:
0/Indicators and Reagents; 0/Serum Albumin; 115-40-2/Bromcresol Purple
Comments/Corrections
Comment In:
Nutrition. 2009 Oct;25(10):1004-5   [PMID:  19500943 ]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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