• Contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) is a concern for oncological patients undergoing CT. • CIN occurs more often when CT is performed <45 days after chemotherapy. • Hypertension and treatment with bevacizumab appear to be additional risk factors.

Background. The evidence base regarding the safety of intravenous (IV) iron therapy in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) is incomplete and largely based on small studies of relatively short duration. Methods. FIND-CKD (ClinicalTrials.gov number NCT00994318) was a 1-year, open-label, multicenter, prospective study of patients with nondialysis-dependent CKD, anemia and iron deficiency randomized (1:1:2) to IV ferric carboxymaltose (FCM), targeting higher (400–600 µg/L) or lower (100–200 µg/L) ferritin, or oral iron. A post hoc analysis of adverse event rates per 100 patient-years was performed to assess the safety of FCM versus oral iron over an extended period. Results. The safety population included 616 patients. The incidence of one or more adverse events was 91.0, 100.0 and 105.0 per 100 patient-years in the high ferritin FCM, low ferritin FCM and oral iron groups, respectively. The incidence of adverse events with a suspected relation to study drug was 15.9, 17.8 and 36.7 per 100 patient-years in the three groups; for serious adverse events, the incidence was 28.2, 27.9 and 24.3 per 100 patient-years. The incidence of cardiac disorders and infections was similar between groups. At least one ferritin level ≥800 µg/L occurred in 26.6% of high ferritin FCM patients, with no associated increase in adverse events. No patient with ferritin ≥800 µg/L discontinued the study drug due to adverse events. Estimated glomerular filtration rate remained the stable in all groups. Conclusions. These results further support the conclusion that correction of iron deficiency anemia with IV FCM is safe in patients with nondialysis-dependent CKD.

The low plasma nitric oxide concentrations and reduced vascular reactivity are considered major proatherogenic mechanisms in cardiovascular diseases. The present study aimed to assess the allelic frequency and the genotypic distribution of the Glu298Asp gene polymorphism at exon 7 of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene in Turkish ischemic stroke patients compared to appropriate healthy controls, and to correlate the genetic findings with stroke subtypes. The study population included 146 (75 males, 71 females) patients with ischemic stroke which were categorized according to the Trial of ORG 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment (TOAST) and 133 (34 males, 99 females) healthy subjects. The eNOS polymorphism was identified with a PCR followed by RFLP with the restriction enzyme BanII. Genotypes were defined as GG, GT, and TT according to the presence of the G and T alleles. In this case-control study, we did not find any significant difference in either the genotypic distribution or allelic frequency of Glu298Asp gene polymorphism between the patients and the controls. In addition, there was also no significant difference for the genotype distribution and the allelic frequency among the stroke subtypes. The results suggested the lack of the association between the Glu298Asp gene polymorphism and ischemic stroke or subtypes of ischemic stroke in the Turkish population.

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