Effect of Remote and Virtual Technology on Home Dialysis.

In the United States, regulatory changes dictate telehealth activities. Telehealth was available to patients on home dialysis as early as 2019, allowing patients to opt for telehealth with home as the originating site and without geographic restriction. In 2020, coronavirus disease 2019 was an unexpected accelerant for telehealth use in the United States. Within nephrology, remote patient monitoring has most often been applied to the care of patients on home dialysis modalities. The effect that remote and virtual technologies have on home dialysis patients, telehealth and health care disparities, and health care providers' workflow changes are discussed here. Moreover, the future use of remote and virtual technologies to include artificial intelligence and artificial neural network model to optimize and personalize treatments will be highlighted. Despite these advances in technology challenges continue to exist, leaving room for future innovation to improve patient health outcome and equity. Prospective studies are needed to further understand the effect of using virtual technologies and remote monitoring on home dialysis outcomes, cost, and patient engagement.

Plasma Cell-Free DNA and Caspase-3 Levels in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease.

BACKGROUND: Cell-free plasma DNA (cfDNA) is circulating extracellular DNA arising from cell death mechanisms (apoptosis, necrosis, etc.). It is commonly existent in healthy individuals, but its ranks increase in diverse clinical circumstances, such as kidney disease, sepsis, myocardial infarction, trauma and cancer. In patients with advanced chronic kidney disease, cfDNA is connected to inflammation, and it has been associated with higher mortality. Caspase-3 plays a dominant role in apoptosis, a mechanism of programmed cell death involved in the pathogenesis and progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD). The aim of this pilot study was the evaluation of cfDNA levels and caspase-3 concentrations in patients with chronic kidney disease, in order to investigate the potential role of these molecules, deriving from inflammatory and apoptotic mechanisms, in the progression of renal damage. METHODS: We compared cfDNA and caspase-3 levels in 25 CKD patients and in 10 healthy subjects, evaluating their levels based on CKD stage. We also explored correlations between cfDNA and caspase-3 levels in CKD patients and between cfDNA and caspase-3 levels and serum creatinine and urea in this population. RESULTS: We observed that cfDNA and caspase-3 levels were higher in patients with CKD compared to healthy subjects, in particular in patients with advanced renal disease (CKD stage 5). A positive correlation between cfDNA and caspase-3 levels and between cfDNA and caspase-3 and creatinine and urea were also noticed. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with chronic kidney disease show higher levels of cfDNA and caspase-3 levels compared to the control group. Based on these preliminary results, we speculated that the worsening of renal damage and the increase in uremic toxin concentration could be associated with higher levels of cfDNA and caspase-3 levels, thus reflecting the potential role of inflammation and apoptosis in the progression of CKD. Future studies should focus on the validation of these promising preliminary results.

Clostridium difficile colitis and peritoneal dialysis associated peritonitis: 'Difficile' treatment considerations.

Peritoneal dialysis (PD) associated peritonitis is the leading cause of PD discontinuation and haemodialysis transfer. Current guidelines strongly recommend prompt initiation of empiric broad-spectrum intraperitoneal antibiotics, with suspected peritonitis. Clostridium difficile colitis is one of the most common healthcare-associated infections, with increased morbidity and mortality among end-stage kidney disease patients. Clinical presentation is mainly characterised by diarrhoea of varying severity, which may eventually evolve into toxic megacolon and paralytic ileus. However, PD patients with Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) may also have colitis-triggered peritonitis, presenting challenging scenario for antibiotic treatment strategy, since broad-spectrum antibiotics against peritonitis may worsen CDI-related colitis, while inappropriate or discontinuation of antibiotic therapy may worsen peritonitis. Currently, guidelines on peritonitis management do not include such challenging clinical situations, although increasingly common. We herein describe a case of a patient, with culture-negative PD associated peritonitis and CDI, presenting with diarrhoea, abdominal pain and cloudy effluent.

Assisted peritoneal dialysis: strategies and outcomes.

Assisted peritoneal dialysis (asPD) is a modality intended for not self-sufficient patients, mainly elderly, who are not able to perform peritoneal dialysis (PD) alone and require some help to manage the treatment. In the last decades, many countries developed strategies of asPD to face with aging of dialysis population and give an answer to the increasing demand of health service for elderly. Model of asPD varies according to the type of assistants employed and intensity of assistance provided. Both health care and non-health care assistants have been used with good clinical results. A mixed model of help, using different professional figures for short time or for longer according to patients' need, has been proved successful and cost-effective. Outcomes of asPD are reported in different ways, and the comparative effect of asPD is unclear. Quality of life has rarely been evaluated; however, patients seem to be satisfied with the assistance provided, since it allows them to both retain independence and to be relieved from the burden of self-care. Assisted PD should not be intended as a PD-favoring strategy, but as a model that allows home dialysis also in patients who would not be eligible for PD because of social, cognitive or physical barriers.

The utility of remote patient management in peritoneal dialysis.

Remote patient management (RPM) programs are one of the most crucial innovations in the peritoneal dialysis (PD) field that have been developed in the last decade. RPM programs are associated with favourable clinical outcomes by increasing the adherence of the patients to PD prescription. The literature supports that RPM is associated with increased blood pressure control and technique survival, and decreased hospitalization rate, length of hospital stay and health costs. RPM programs also facilitate patient follow-up during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, increase treatment adherence and lead to better clinical outcomes. However, published data remain scarce and mainly consist of observational or retrospective studies with relatively low numbers of patients. Therefore, randomized controlled trial results will be more informative to demonstrate the effect of RPM programs on clinical outcomes.

Worldwide Experiences with Assisted Peritoneal Dialysis.

End-stage renal disease (ESRD) is common in the elderly population, and renal replacement therapy (RRT) is often required. However, in this particular subgroup of patients, the choice between hemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) is often not an easy decision to make. Published literature has adequately demonstrated that PD prevalence is significantly less than HD across all patient age groups despite several advantages. We also know that elderly patients are less likely to complete a PD assessment, due to both medical and social barriers. Additionally, elderly patients are often reluctant to go ahead with PD despite being eligible PD candidates, mainly due to the fear of performing self-therapy. Recently, many new assisted PD (asPD) programs have cropped up in several countries. The main aim of these programs is to overcome barriers to PD and to promote PD utilization among elderly and non-self-sufficient patients. Although asPD has proven to be associated with good clinical results, there still remain concerns about its greater use. In this review, we will first describe an ideal asPD model and then enumerate examples of strategies and outcomes associated with successful asPD programs worldwide.