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Disorders associated with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) have been reported including cardiovascular, metabolic, and central nervous system diseases. Since chronic HCV infections may be curable, their identification as causal contributors to cardiovascular risk could offer new perspectives in the prevention of cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study is to investigate the association between HCV and aortic arch calcification (AAC) and corneal and conjunctival calcification (CCC) in maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients; further, we assessed the correlation of CCC with vascular calcification. A total of 100 patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD) in our hospital were included in this study. Patients underwent a complete ocular examination including intraocular pressure, and CCC was looked for by slit lamp and fundoscopy. CCC was graded according to modified Porter and Crombie classification system described by Tokuyama et al. Helical computerized tomographic chest examination was used to evaluate the grading of AAC. Demographic, hematological, biochemical, and dialysis-related data were obtained. There was significant difference between seropositive (n = 51) and seronegative patients (n = 49) regarding grading of AAC and CCC (P <0.001). Significant positive correlation was found between grading of CCC, AAC, age (P <0.001), duration on HD (P <0.001), HCV-antibody positivity (P <0.001), serum calcium level (P <0.001), serum phosphorus level (P <0.001), calcium × phosphorus product (P <0.001), and i-parathormone level (P < 0.001). In addition, CCC grading positively correlated with AAC. Our results suggest that patients undergoing HD infected with the HCV have high degree of CCC, AAC, and mineral metabolism disorder. The strong correlation between CCC and AAC indicates that CCC evaluation is an easy, fast, non-invasive method, and might be used as an indirect indicator to detect vascular calcification in patients undergoing MHD.

Background and Aims End stage renal disease (ESRD) is chronic inflammatory condition which affects iron parameters. Serum soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) is a reliable indicator for assessing iron status in inflammatory conditions. This study evaluates the usefulness of serum sTfR in iron deficiency anemia detection in prevalent hemodialysis patients. Method This case-control study included 40 ESRD patients on conventional hemodialysis with CRP&gt;10, 40 ESRD patients with CRP&lt;10 and 8 apparently healthy controls. Serum sTfR was measured for all patients and controls. Results STFRs predicts iron deficiency anemia in prevalent hemodialysis patients at cut off value 12.5 mg/l with area under curve 0.949, sensitivity 88.75, specificity 100, PPV 100% and NPV 47.1%. The prevalence of STFRs in patients with CRP&lt;10 was 85%, while in patients with CRP&gt;10 was 92.5% (P-value 0.288). Patients who have elevated STFRs have risk 1.22 times to have iron deficiency anemia if CRP &lt;10 (odds ratio: 1.22) and 3.14 times if CRP&gt;10 (odds ratio: 3.14). There was significant difference on comparing patients with CRP&lt;10, CRP&gt;10 and control as regard haemoglobin and STFR with P-value 0.0001 and 0.0001 respectively. Post Hoc analysis showed significant difference between the patients with CRP&lt;10 and control also in patients with CRP&gt;10 and control as regard haemoglobin and STFR (p value &lt;0.0001). on comparing patients with CRP&lt;10 with patients with CRP&gt;10 there was significant difference in STFRs p value 0.0001 despite no significant difference in haemoglobin (p value 0.642) and classic iron markers (s.iron, TIBC, TSAT) with p value 0.701, 0.192, 0.382 respectively. Serum STFRs was negatively correlated with s.iron and Kt\v in patients with CRP &lt;10 (r -0.372, P-value 0.018) and (r-0.416, p value 0.008) respectively. Conclusion Serum soluble transferrin receptor is a highly sensitive and specific marker of iron deficiency anemia in hemodialysis patients especially with high CRP level.