[Clinical usefulness serum int-P I NP levels as a bone formation marker in hemodialysis patients].
Since intact collagen I amino-terminal propeptide (P I NP) is known to be cleared from blood via liver, its level in blood is hypothesized to be independent of renal function. Serum P I NP, in contrast to serum bone alkaline phosphatase (BAP) and intact osteocalcin (OC), did not show any significant change between before and after a hemodialysis session. Serum P I NP correlated significantly in a positive manner with the other bone formation markers, bone-specific alkaline phosphatase and osteocalcin and also with intact parathyroid hormone in the patients on hemodialysis. In summary, serum P I NP may be very useful for prediction of radius bone loss as well as other serum bone formation markers and evaluating the osteoblastic function in hemodialyzed patients.