Bone fluoride in patients with uremia maintained by chronic hemodialysis

Bone specimens from 42 patients with end-stage renal disease and from 9 patients without renal or bone disease have been analyzed for the content of fluoride, calcium, and phosphorus. Thirty-one patients were treated with chronic hemodialysis for periods ranging up to 56 months by employing dialysate made up with tap water containing 1 ppm fluoride. Fluoride content of cortical hard bone was increased in the great majority of the patients with kidney disease. There was no significant difference in bone fluoride content between the patients who were dialyzed and those who were not. However, the content of calcium and phosphorus was lower in the patients treated by hemodialysis. There was no correlation between duration of uremia or number of dialyses and bone fluoride content. In 4 patients, 3 with kidney disease and 1 without, soft bone and soft tissue had much higher fluoride content than cortical hard bone.