Recurrent Urinary Tract Infection in Living Donor Renal Transplant Recipients and the Role of Behavioral Education Program in Management: A Single-Center Experience.

BACKGROUND: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the most prevalent type of kidney transplant (KT) recipients. We aimed to investigate the incidence, causes, and clinical impact of early recurrent UTI post-living donor KT and to examine the role of behavioral education program in management. METHODS: This retrospective cohort chart-review study included all KT recipients with recurrent UTI necessitating hospital admission between September 2017 and August 2021. All patients with recurrent UTI were subjected to behavioral education for a month. RESULTS: UTI was found in 14 of 145 patients (9.6%), with recurrent UTI in 11 (7.6%). A total of 93% of UTIs occurred during the first 6 months post-transplant and represented 52% of KT readmissions during the same period. A total of 64.3% of patients were older than 50 years. The mean (SD) length of hospital stay was 5 (2.5) days, with an equal incidence in both sexes. The most common bacterial isolates in early recurrent UTI were Escherichia coli in 80.9%. Both Extended-spectrum beta-lactamases and multidrug-resistant organisms (resistance in ≥3 drugs) were seen in 82.4% of isolates. Furthermore, the most effective antibiotic was meropenem, with 86.7% effectiveness. A total of 65% of UTIs were managed with a single antibacterial course. A total of 64.3% of patients were older than 50 years. In patients who developed UTI, the mean (SD) serum creatinine was 1.31 (0.52) mg/dL, with a mean increase in serum creatinine of 0.19 mg/dL on having the episodes; at 1 year post-transplant, serum creatinine declined to 1.23 (0.43) mg/dL. Four patients (36%) had no recurrence of UTI after behavioral education. CONCLUSIONS: The multidrug-resistant bacterial isolates account for 82.4% of the UTIs. Therefore, antibiotic prescription should follow the antimicrobial stewardship guidelines. Behavioral education significantly reduced the incidence of recurrent UTI.

Effectiveness of using tranexamic acid in total hip and total knee arthroplasty: Single tertiary center experience.

OBJECTIVES: To measure the effectiveness of tranexamic acid (TXA); in total joint arthroplastyin terms of reducing post-operative blood loss. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study in which patients who had underwent total hip arthroplasty (THA) and TKA between 2010-2018 in a single tertiary center. Those had received TXA (group 1) and those who had received no-TXA (group 2) were evaluated. Unpaired student's t-test was used to compare TXA and no-TXA groups for continuous variables and Chi-square test was used for categorical variables. A p-value<0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: A total of 385 patients were included, 180 patients received TXA, and 205 patients received no-TXA. Post-operative blood loss was significantly less in TXA group (13.41±9.51, p<0.001). Total drainage output was significantly lower in TXA group compared to no-TXA (373.98±246.12 vs. 487.11±307.13 mL, p<0.001). Blood transfusion units were significantly less in TXA group than in the control group (20 units; 11.1% vs. 50 units; 24.4%, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Tranexamic acid use in TKA and THA is effective in reducing post-operative blood loss in terms of drop in Hg level, total drainage output and blood transfusion rate.

Assessment of the accuracy of death certification at two referral hospitals.

BACKGROUND: Death certification is a vital source of information used in mortality statistics worldwide to assess the health of the general population. This study focuses on the consistency of information between the death reports and the clinical records (files) of deceased patients in two hospitals: the King Khalid University Hospital (KKUH) and King Fahad National Guard hospital (KFNGH) in Saudi Arabia. METHODS: A random sample of the records of 157 deceased patients' registered in 2002 in the two hospitals was retrospectively reviewed independently to determine the underlying cause of death and compare them with death reports. It was also to check the accuracy of the translation from English in to Arabic. RESULTS: It was found that the underlying cause of death was misdiagnosed in 80.3% of the death reports. When the two hospitals were compared, no significant difference was observed (p>0.05). In addition, 81.8% of the accurate (correct) death reports in both hospitals were of patients who had died of a malignant disease. However, the translation of the underlying cause of death in KFNGH was correct in 86.1% of the death reports, while in KKUH it was only 25%, which is highly statistically significant (p<0.0001). CONCLUSION: With the limitation of studying only a small number of cases, these results indicate a discrepancy between the file and death reports in relation to the cause of death. Also, the translation of the cause of death was inconsistent in the two hospitals. Hence, there is a real need to adopt suitable measures to improve the quality of death certification.