L.M. Badretdinova, E.V. Lakarova, M.G. Skalnaya, R.R. Badretdinov, A.R. Grabeklis

Content of chemical elements in whole blood of patients with osteoarthrosis was studied before and after the course of health resort treatment in the sanatorium Yangan-Tau (Bashkortostan, Russia). There were studied 30 patients, selected randomly: 24 women 27 to 58 years old and 6 men 34 to 58 years old. Six patients also had concurrent diseases of the digestive system. All the studied patients were receiving rehabilitation treatment in accordance with the approved standard of spa treatment of diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue. Whole blood samples, taken from the patients before and after the treatment, were subjected to multielement analysis by ICP-AES/ICP-MS method. 25 chemical elements were determined. It was established that patients with high-degree disturbance of the joints - motor function were characterized by 2.9 times as low content of iodine in the blood as patients with low-degree disturbance, and by a tendency to increase in level of cadmium which was as 1.25 as high. Patients with concurrent intestinal diseases had no significant differences in whole blood concentration of chemical elements as compared to patients without such diseases, there were detected only a tendency to higher level of silicon and lower level of lead in this group. Along the course of health resort treatment, significant changes in whole blood concentration of aluminium (increase by 1.3, p < 0.01), selenium (increase by 1.1, p < 0.02) and nickel (increase by 1.2, p < 0.05). There was also observed tendencies to increase in levels of manganese, lead and silicon. Thus, elemental analysis of the whole blood after treatment showed an increase in content of most studied elements after the treatment, both essential and conditionally toxic, that reflects significant effect of the treatment on mineral metabolism in patients. This phenomenon of "deregulation" of elemental balance is of undoubted interest and may be associated with increased metabolism in the body as a result of the impact of medical factors. Also one can not exclude probability of excessive therapeutic impact on patients with steoarthrosis. To clarify the causes and mechanisms of the observed phenomenon, additional in-depth studies with longer follow-up f patients after treatment are expedient.