Intermediate-term outcome of single kidney grafts from pediatric donors weighing 10-14 kg in adult recipients.

BACKGROUND: Kidneys from pediatric donors weighing <10 kg are preferably transplanted en bloc, while kidneys from donors weighing >15 kg can be safely transplanted as single kidneys. However, single kidney transplantation from donors weighing 10-14 kg is controversial and has not been well investigated. METHODS: We analyzed the outcome of 15 recipients of single kidneys from donors weighing 10-14 kg (study group) with 40 recipients receiving an allograft from ideal deceased donors (control group). RESULTS: After a follow-up of three yr, death-censored graft survival was 100% in both groups. The calculated creatinine clearance was lower in the study group at six months (53 vs. 71 mL/min; p = 0.01) and similar at 12 months (68 vs. 68 mL/min; p = 0.48), 24 months (81 vs. 70 mL/min; p = 0.58), and 36 months (74 vs. 69 mL/min; p = 0.59). Urinary albumin/creatinine ratios were comparable between the two groups up to two yr. At three yr, urinary albumin/creatinine ratios were higher in the study group than the control group (10.5 vs. 0.9 mg/mmol; p = 0.007). Surveillance biopsies at three and six months post-transplant revealed no evidence for focal segmental glomerulosclerosis in the study group. CONCLUSIONS: Transplantation of single pediatric kidneys from donors weighing 10-14 kg into adult recipients provides excellent intermediate-term outcomes. Low-grade albuminuria, three yr post-transplant, might indicate late-onset hyperfiltration injury.

[Postoperative care following vascular surgery - control of risk factors and guide-lines for physicians in charge of vascular patients]. / Die postoperative Betreuung nach gefäßchirurgischem Eingriff - Sekundärprophylaxe und Richtlinien für den Hausarzt.

Patients after major vascular surgery operations present with different problems. Therefore dedicated physicians and good communication between surgeon and physician are required. One of the main goals should be control of cardiovascular risk factors. The following article presents an overview of common vascular operations and proposes guide-lines for postoperative care.

Ten years after arterial bypass surgery for claudication: venous bypass is the primary procedure for TASC C and D lesions.

BACKGROUND: The appropriate role for surgery and endovascular therapy for severe intermittent claudication (IC) remains controversial. We present our results after infrainguinal autogenous bypass for severe IC more than 10 years ago giving a reasoned argument to perform vein bypass as the primary procedure for severe IC. METHODS: Our prospectively designed database includes more than 1,000 infrainguinal bypasses following an all-autogenous policy. For this review only patients operated on for severe IC at least 10 years ago were included. The primary end points were survival and primary and assisted-primary patency rates. RESULTS: From October 1988 until December 2000, 124 bypasses for IC were performed. Ninety-five patients were male and the mean age was 64.5 ± 10.8 years. Survival after 10 years was 50.3% according to life table analysis. Forty bypasses were to the supragenicular artery, 62 to the infragenicular popliteal artery, and 22 to the tibial artery. Thirty-day mortality was 0.8% (1 patient). The primary patency rate after 10 years was 63.5% and the assisted-primary patency rate 87.3%. CONCLUSION: Infrainguinal venous bypass for severe IC has excellent long-term results. Our results are strong arguments against the liberal use of stenting long lesions of the femoropopliteal artery. Venous bypass remains the primary procedure for TASC C and D lesions in claudicants.

Endarterectomy of the aneurysm sac in open abdominal aortic aneurysm repair reduces perigraft seroma and improves graft incorporation.

BACKGROUND: Fluid around the graft in the original aneurysm sac after open abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair is a poorly researched phenomenon. If large, such perigraft seroma can cause symptoms of compression, and cases of rupture have even been described. We assessed whether endarterectomy of the aneurysm sac reduces the incidence of perigraft fluid and improves graft incorporation. DESIGN AND METHODS: Starting in July 2005, all patients with elective open AAA repair were alternately treated either with conventional thrombectomy or thrombectomy plus endarterectomy of the aneurysm sac. All patients were treated with a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) graft. The maximum axial width of the perigraft fluid collection was measured on computed tomography (CT) scans 1 year after operation. RESULTS: The CT scans of 115 patients were available; 56 had endarterectomy of the aneurysm sac and 59 did not. Fluid collections were significantly smaller in patients with endarterectomy (median width 4.0 versus 8.0 mm; P = 0.0001). Eight patients with endarterectomy had a fluid collection wider than 10 mm compared to 28 patients without endarterectomy (OR 0.18, 95% CI 0.07-0.46). After endarterectomy, 17 patients had radiological signs of complete graft incorporation in comparison to only 6 patients without endarterectomy (OR 3.85, 95% CI 1.39-10.66). No patients were symptomatic or reoperated for perigraft seroma. CONCLUSIONS: Endarterectomy of the aneurysm sac in open AAA repair appears to improve graft incorporation. The high rate of asymptomatic perigraft seroma is surprising, and its clinical significance is unknown. Ultrafiltration of PTFE grafts may be an underlying mechanism.

Silent recovery of native kidney function after transplantation in a patient with membranous nephropathy.

Recurrence of membranous nephropathy (MN) is frequently seen after transplantation. However, there are no published data about the course of MN in the native kidneys after transplantation. Disease progression in almost all cases is assumed to be the 'natural' course after transplantation. We report on a patient suffering from end-stage renal disease due to MN. Eight years after transplantation, nephrectomy was performed due to chronic rejection and unexpectedly, partial recovery of native kidney function was noted. As far as we know, there is no other similar case reported in the literature. The potential impact of the immunosuppression, especially of calcineurin inhibitors, is discussed.

The outcome of the primary vascular access and its translation into prevalent access use rates in chronic haemodialysis patients.

BACKGROUND: The American Fistula First Breakthrough Initiative currently aims for a 66% arterio-venous fistula (AVF) rate, while in the UK, best practice tariffs target AVF and arterio-venous graft (AVG) rates of 85%. The present study aims to assess whether these goals can be achieved. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study on patients who initiated haemodialysis from 1995 to 2006. Outcomes were the final failure-free survival of the first permanent access and the type of second access created. Prevalent use rates for the access types were calculated on the 1st January of each year for the second half of the study period. RESULTS: Two hundred and eleven out of 246 patients (86%) received an AVF, 16 (6%) an AVG and 19 (8%) a permanent catheter (PC) as the first permanent access. Eighty-six (35%) patients had final failure of the primary access. One- and 3-year final failure-free survival rates were 73 and 65% for AVF compared with 40 and 20% for AVG and 62 and 0% for PC, respectively. In patients with primary AVF, female sex {hazard ratio (HR) 2.20 [confidence interval (CI) 1.29-3.73]} and vascular disease [HR 2.24 (CI 1.26-3.97)] were associated with a poorer outcome. A similar trend was observed for autoimmune disease [HR 2.14 (CI 0.99-4.65)]. As second accesses AVF, AVG and PC were created in 47% (n = 40), 38% (n = 33) and 15% (n = 13). The median prevalent use rate was 80.5% for AVF, 14% for AVG and 5.5% for PC. CONCLUSIONS: The vascular access targets set by initiatives from the USA and UK are feasible in unselected haemodialysis patients. High primary AVF rates, the superior survival rates of AVFs even in patient groups at higher risk of access failure and the high rate of creation of secondary AVFs contributed to these promising results.

Retroperitoneoscopic donor nephrectomy: donor outcome and complication rate in comparison with three different techniques.

Four surgical techniques for living donor nephrectomy were analyzed retrospectively in terms of perioperative outcome and early complication rate. A total of 182 donor nephrectomies including 69 open (OLDN), 14 fully laparoscopic (LDN), 34 hand-assisted laparoscopic (HLDN) and 65 retroperitoneoscopic (RLDN) nephrectomies were analyzed. There was a significant difference in mean operating time (OPT) between the OLDN (160 min) and RLDN (150 min) as compared to the LDN (212 min) and HLDN group (192 min) (P < 0.001). Mean warm ischemia time (WIT) was significantly shorter with OLDN (114 s), RLDN (121 s) and HLDN (128 s) when compared to LDN (238 s) (P < 0.001). Major complication rate was comparable among the groups. Independent of the preferred technique, donor nephrectomy is associated with complication rates. RLDN is comparable to OLDN in terms of OPT, WIT. Learning endoscopic donor nephrectomy could be associated with a higher complication rate.

Does specialization improve outcome in abdominal aortic aneurysm surgery?

Specialization and high volume are reported to be related to a better outcome after abdominal aortic aneurysm repair. The aim of this study was to compare, in patients undergoing abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, the outcomes of those whose surgery was done by general surgeons with the outcomes of those whose surgery was done by specialist vascular surgeons. All patients undergoing abdominal aortic aneurysm repair at the Basel University Hospital (referral center) from January 1990 to December 2000 were included. Patients with endovascular treatment were excluded. Operations in group A (n = 189), between January 1990 and May 1995, were done by general surgeons. Operations in group B (n = 291), between June 1995 and December 2000, were done by vascular surgeons. In-hospital mortality and local and systemic complications were assessed. In-hospital mortality rates were significantly lower for group B (with specialist surgeons) than for group A, both overall (group B, 11.7%; group A, 21.7%; p = .003) and for emergency interventions (group B, 28.1%; group A, 41.9%; p = .042). The reduction in mortality for elective surgery in group B was not statistically significant (group B, 1.1%; group A, 4.9%; p = .054). There were significantly fewer pulmonary complications in group B compared with group A (p = .000). We conclude that in patients undergoing abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, those whose surgery is done by a specialized team have a significantly better outcome than those whose surgery is done by general surgeons.

Acute supramesenteric thrombosis of an abdominal aortic aneurysm with deleterious embolism: a case report.

A 55-year-old man was admitted with severe pain, paralysis of both legs and absent femoral pulses. Computed tomographic scan demonstrated a 6 cm juxtarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) with thrombosis starting at the level of the celiac trunk. At immediate operation, thrombectomy of visceral arteries was performed and distal neovascularization was achieved with a bifurcated prosthesis. It was revealed that all major arteries were occluded with debris. Embolectomy did restore flow in major vessels, but organ perfusion was not achieved due to occlusion of smaller vessels. The patient died with multiorgan failure. This is the first description in the literature of an acutely thrombosed AAA at the supramesenteric level.

Endovascular stent graft for symptomatic mobile thrombus of the thoracic aorta.

Mobile thoracic aortic thrombus is a potential source of arterial embolism. Therapeutic management remains controversial. Systemic anticoagulation and various open surgical procedures are the commonly used therapeutic modalities. We report the successful primary treatment by endovascular stent graft of a mobile thoracic aortic thrombus that had caused visceral and peripheral embolism. Our case shows that endovascular stent-graft treatment is an effective, minimally invasive treatment of symptomatic mobile thoracic aortic thrombus.

Brachial artery dilatation after arteriovenous fistulae in patients after renal transplantation: a 10-year follow-up with ultrasound scan.

BACKGROUND: Dilatation of the artery proximal to arteriovenous fistula (AF) is not well known but is a potential serious complication in patients for renal transplant. METHODS: From 1991 until 2001, the diameters of the brachial arteries of 29 patients after successful renal transplantation and with existing AF were prospectively evaluated with ultrasound scan. Nine patients with longstanding AF without transplantation were included as a control group. RESULTS: In 1991, the mean brachial artery diameter was 6.4 mm (+/-1.8 mm) with patent AF and 5.2 mm (+/-1.5 mm) with occluded AF (P= not significant). The 1994 mean diameter was 6.6 mm (+/-1.7 mm) versus 5.3 mm (+/-2.0 mm; P =.029). In 2001, the mean diameter rose to 7.4 mm (+/-1.3 mm) versus 5.7 mm (+/-2.8 mm; P =.022). Compared with the side without fistula, the diameter of brachial artery on the AF side was significantly greater during the whole study period. The increase in the diameter correlates significantly with the time the AF had been patent (P =.001, according to Spearman test). The dilatation of the brachial arteries of patients without transplantation was smaller compared with patients after transplantation but did not reach statistical significance. Two patients had to undergo operation on a symptomatic aneurysm of the axillobrachial artery. CONCLUSION: According to our results, dilatation of the brachial artery after AV is time dependent. Higher flow in the AF seems to be the main trigger of dilatation.

Mural thrombus of the aorta in association with homozygous plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1)-675(4G) and heterozygous GP Ia 807C/T genotypes.

Thrombus formation in the thoracic and abdominal aorta without evidence of arteriosclerotic disease is very uncommon. We present a case of a 50-year-old woman with a mural thrombus of the upper abdominal aorta associated with a combination of two mutations predisposing for thrombophilia. The genetic analysis showed a homozygous mutation of plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1)-675 (4G) and a heterozygous mutation of GP Ia 807C/T. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the combination of both mutations occurring in a patient with isolated thrombus formation of the aorta.