[Prioritization of intensive medical treatment places - Concept proposal]. / Priorisierung intensivmedizinischer Behandlungsplätze ­ Konzeptvorschlag.

In the situation of a shortage of ventilation beds, ethically justifiable, transparent and comprehensible decisions must be made. This concept proposes that all patients are first intubated depending on necessity and then assessed by a triage team afterwards. In this situation newly admitted COVID patients compete with newly admitted Non-COVID patients as well as patients already treated in intensive care units for a ventilator. The combination of short-term and long-term prognoses should enable the interprofessional triage team to make comprehensible decisions. The aim of the prioritization concept is to save as many human lives as possible and to relieve the treatment team of the difficult decision on prioritization.

[Antifreeze poisoning : The case of a patient with repeated ethylene glycol poisoning]. / Intoxikation nach Frostschutzmittelaufnahme : Der Fall eines Patienten nach wiederholter Ethylenglykolintoxikation.

Ethylene glycol poisoning of incidental or suicidal intention can cause life-threatening metabolic acidosis, diverse secondary damage, and even lead to death. Beside hemodialysis effective therapy consists of the administration of fomepizole and ethanol. We describe a patient after repeated ethylene glycol poisoning with high anion gap metabolic acidosis and acute renal failure. Using hemodialysis, with dialysate containing a specific amount of ethanol, and intravenous ethanol administration we were able to prevent severe secondary organ damage.

To prescribe, or not to prescribe: decision making in HIV-1 post-exposure prophylaxis.

OBJECTIVES: We investigated the trend in usage of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) after HIV-1 risk exposure and evaluated PEP prescription decision making of physicians according to guidelines. METHODS: All PEP consultations from January 2014 to December 2016 in patients presenting at the University Hospital of Cologne (Germany) were retrospectively analysed. HIV risk contacts included sexual and occupational exposure. The European AIDS Clinical Society (EACS) Guidelines for HIV PEP (version 9.0, 2017) were used for assessment. RESULTS: A total of 649 patients presented at the emergency department (ED) or the clinic for infectious diseases (IDC) for PEP consultations. A continuous increase in the number of PEP requests was recorded: 189 in 2014, 208 in 2015 and 252 in 2016. PEP consultations in men who have sex with men (MSM) showed a remarkable increase in 2016 (2014, n = 96; 2015, n = 101; 2016, n = 152). Decisions taken by physicians with a specialization in infectious diseases (n = 547) included 61 (11%) guideline-discordant prescriptions [2014: 14% (n = 22); 2015: 9% (n = 16); 2016: 11% (n = 23)]. Among these, sexual exposure accounted for 45 (74%) cases, including 15 cases of nonconsensual sex, while occupational exposure accounted for 14 (23%) cases and other exposure two cases (3%). The main reason for guideline-discordant PEP prescriptions was emotional stress of the patient (n = 37/61). CONCLUSIONS: PEP prescriptions are increasing and decision making is influenced by patients' emotional stress, but PEP prescriptions should be strictly administered according to risk assessment.

[Rapid progress of a cerebral edema due to fulminant hyponatremia]. / Rapide Entwicklung eines Hirnödems infolge einer fulminanten Hyponatriämie.

Severe acute hyponatremia is a life-threatening illness. We report the case of a 38-year-old woman with lethal cerebral edema due to acute isovolemic hyponatremia.

[Effects of endovascular therapy for renal artery stenosis on blood pressure and renal function: retrospective analysis of an unselected patient collective from 1994 to 2007]. / Auswirkungen der endovaskulären Therapie von Nierenarterienstenosen auf Blutdruck und Nierenfunktion : Retrospektive Auswertung bei einem nicht-selektierten Patientenkollektiv von 1994-2007.

BACKGROUND: A retrospective analysis of the long-term success rates of endoluminal therapy of renal artery stenosis in a university hospital was carried out. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Preinterventional and postinterventional data contained in the clinical records of all 104 patients who underwent percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA, 25 patients) or stent PTA (79 patients) from 01 January 1994 to 31 December 2007, were documented using an electronically structured questionnaire and a time period classification. Subgroup analyses and statistical calculations were done using t-tests for joint random samples. RESULTS: At day 1 postintervention all patients showed a statistically significant decrease in mean systolic blood pressure (all patients: p=0.002, stent PTA group: p=0.023, PTA group: p=0.022). The significant decrease in mean systolic blood pressure persisted in years 1 and 2 postintervention (all patients: p=0.009 and 0.007, stent PTA group: p=0.039 and 0.015, respectively). Mean blood pressure values remained constant during the other time periods analyzed. In patients with a stent PTA carried out between 2001 and 2007 there was no significant reduction of prescribed antihypertonic drugs (p=0.023 and p=0.046, respectively). Mean serum creatinine concentrations decreased during years 1 and 2 postintervention and increased starting in year 3. In patients with elevated serum creatinine levels prior to the intervention the increase in mean serum creatinine level started in year 5. CONCLUSIONS: Endoluminal therapy of arteriosclerotic renal artery stenosis delays further deterioration of renal function and stabilizes blood pressure as well as the number of prescribed antihypertonic drugs. This can be considered a response to treatment in view of the mostly chronic progressive course of the disease.

Apoptosis in kidneys of endothelin-1 transgenic mice.

Endothelin-1 (ET-1) transgenic mice are characterized by age-dependent development of renal cysts and renal fibrosis (interstitial fibrosis and glomerulosclerosis), leading to a progressive decrease in glomerular filtration rate. The mechanism causing the loss of functionally and morphologically normal renal tissue is unknown. An imbalance between cell proliferation and apoptosis in the kidneys of ET-1 transgenic mice might contribute to this process. We identified apoptotic cells in kidney sections by in situ end-labeling and by the typical nuclear chromatin morphology after propidium iodide (PI) staining. Cell proliferation was measured by estimating the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA)-positive cells. The numbers of apoptotic cells were significantly increased (p < 0.001) in the kidneys of 14-month-old ET-1 transgenic mice, whereas cell proliferation was not enhanced. Apoptotic cells were detected in the glomeruli, tubular cells, and renal interstitial cells in ET-1 transgenic mice. In conclusion, apoptotic loss of functional renal tissue appears to be associated with the progression of cyst formation and renal fibrosis. Therefore, an imbalance between cell proliferation and apoptosis could be an important cellular mechanism in ET-1 transgenic mice leading to end-stage kidney disease.

Endothelin-1 transgenic mice develop glomerulosclerosis, interstitial fibrosis, and renal cysts but not hypertension.

The human endothelin-1 (ET-1) gene under the control of its natural promoter was transferred into the germline of mice. The transgene was expressed predominantly in the brain, lung, and kidney. Transgene expression was associated with a pathological phenotype manifested by signs such as age-dependent development of renal cysts, interstitial fibrosis of the kidneys, and glomerulosclerosis leading to a progressive decrease in glomerular filtration rate. This pathology developed in spite of only slightly elevated plasma and tissue ET-1 concentrations. Blood pressure was not affected even after the development of an impaired glomerular filtration rate. Therefore, these transgenic lines provide a new blood pressure-independent animal model of ET-1-induced renal pathology leading to renal fibrosis and fatal kidney disease.