Management of the congenital solitary kidney: consensus recommendations of the Italian Society of Pediatric Nephrology.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, several studies have been published on the prognosis of children with congenital solitary kidney (CSK), with controversial results, and a worldwide consensus on management and follow-up is lacking. In this consensus statement, the Italian Society of Pediatric Nephrology summarizes the current knowledge on CSK and presents recommendations for its management, including diagnostic approach, nutritional and lifestyle habits, and follow-up. We recommend that any antenatal suspicion/diagnosis of CSK be confirmed by neonatal ultrasound (US), avoiding the routine use of further imaging if no other anomalies of kidney/urinary tract are detected. A CSK without additional abnormalities is expected to undergo compensatory enlargement, which should be assessed by US. We recommend that urinalysis, but not blood tests or genetic analysis, be routinely performed at diagnosis in infants and children showing compensatory enlargement of the CSK. Extrarenal malformations should be searched for, particularly genital tract malformations in females. An excessive protein and salt intake should be avoided, while sport participation should not be restricted. We recommend a lifelong follow-up, which should be tailored on risk stratification, as follows: low risk: CSK with compensatory enlargement, medium risk: CSK without compensatory enlargement and/or additional CAKUT, and high risk: decreased GFR and/or proteinuria, and/or hypertension. We recommend that in children at low-risk periodic US, urinalysis and BP measurement be performed; in those at medium risk, we recommend that serum creatinine also be measured; in high-risk children, the schedule has to be tailored according to kidney function and clinical data.

Antibiotic Resistance in Paediatric Febrile Urinary Tract Infections.

Febrile urinary tract infection (UTI) is currently considered the most frequent cause of serious bacterial illness in children in the first 2 years of life. UTI in paediatrics can irreversibly damage the renal parenchyma and lead to chronic renal insufficiency and related problems. To avoid this risk, an early effective antibiotic treatment is essential. Moreover, prompt treatment is mandatory to improve the clinical condition of the patient, prevent bacteraemia, and avoid the risk of bacterial localization in other body sites. However, antibiotic resistance for UTI-related bacterial pathogens continuously increases, making recommendations rapidly outdated and the definition of the best empiric antibiotic therapy more difficult. Variation in pathogen susceptibility to antibiotics is essential for the choice of an effective therapy. Moreover, proper identification of cases at increased risk of difficult-to-treat UTIs can reduce the risk of ineffective therapy. In this review, the problem of emerging antibiotic resistance among pathogens associated with the development of paediatric febrile UTIs and the best potential solutions to ensure the most effective therapy are discussed. Literature analysis showed that the emergence of antibiotic resistance is an unavoidable phenomenon closely correlated with the use of antibiotics themselves. To limit the emergence of resistance, every effort to reduce and rationalise antibiotic consumption must be made. An increased use of antibiotic stewardship can be greatly effective in this regard.

Childhood Idiopathic Nephrotic Syndrome: Does the Initial Steroid Treatment Modify the Outcome? A Multicentre, Prospective Cohort Study.

Background: A great majority of children with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome will relapse after successful treatment of the initial episode. The possibility that different steroid dosing regimens at onset, adjusted for risk factors, can reduce the rate of relapse represents an interesting option to investigate. Objectives: To evaluate the effect of the initial steroid regimen, adjusted for time to remission (TTR), on the frequency of relapses and steroid dependence, and to verify the influence of prognostic factors on disease course. Methods: A multicentre, prospective, cohort study. Children with nephrotic syndrome, with TTR ≤ 10 days (Group A), were given a 20-week prednisone regimen (2,828 mg/m2) and those with a TTR >10 days, a 22-week regimen (3,668 mg/m2) (Group B). Previously published retrospective data from the same centers were also evaluated. Main outcomes were: relapse rate, number of frequent relapsers + steroid dependent children and total prednisone dose after induction. Results: 143 children were enrolled. Rate of relapsed subjects (77 vs. 79%) and frequent relapsers + steroid dependent subjects (40 vs. 53%) did not differ between Groups A and B, or between the retrospective and prospective cohorts. The cumulative prednisone dose taken after the induction treatment was similar in both groups and in the retrospective and prospective cohorts. TTR was not associated with relapse risk. Age at onset and total serum protein were significantly lower in relapsing patients. At ROC analysis, the best cut-off was 5.3 years for age at onset and 4.2 g/dL for total serum protein. According to these cut-offs, older children with higher total serum protein had a higher relapse free survival rate (58%) than younger children with lower total serum protein (17%). Conclusions: TTR was not found to be a prognostic factor of relapse; because of this, different steroid regimens, adjusted for TTR, did not modify the relapse rate in any relevant measure. Conversely, younger age and low total serum protein were independent predictors of relapse risk, however this outcome was not modified by higher prednisone regimens. Clinical Trial Registration:https://www.ClinicalTrials.gov/, identifier: NCT01386957 (www.nefrokid.it).

Prophylaxis after first febrile urinary tract infection in children? A multicenter, randomized, controlled, noninferiority trial.

OBJECTIVES: Febrile urinary tract infections are common in children and associated with the risk for renal scarring and long-term complications. Antimicrobial prophylaxis has been used to reduce the risk for recurrence. We performed a study to determine whether no prophylaxis is similar to antimicrobial prophylaxis for 12 months in reducing the recurrence of febrile urinary tract infections in children after a first febrile urinary tract infection. METHODS: The study was a controlled, randomized, open-label, 2-armed, noninferiority trial comparing no prophylaxis with prophylaxis (co-trimoxazole 15 mg/kg per day or co-amoxiclav 15 mg/kg per day) for 12 months. A total of 338 children who were aged 2 months to <7 years and had a first episode of febrile urinary tract infection were enrolled: 309 with a confirmed pyelonephritis on a technetium 99m dimercaptosuccinic acid scan with or without reflux and 27 with a clinical pyelonephritis and reflux. The primary end point was recurrence rate of febrile urinary tract infections during 12 months. Secondary end point was the rate of renal scarring produced by recurrent urinary tract infections on technetium 99m dimercaptosuccinic acid scan after 12 months. RESULTS: Intention-to-treat analysis showed no significant differences in the primary outcome between no prophylaxis and prophylaxis: 12 (9.45%) of 127 vs 15 (7.11%) of 211. In the subgroup of children with reflux, the recurrence of febrile urinary tract infections was 9 (19.6%) of 46 on no prophylaxis and 10 (12.1%) of 82 on prophylaxis. No significant difference was found in the secondary outcome: 2 (1.9%) of 108 on no prophylaxis versus 2 (1.1%) of 187 on prophylaxis. Bivariate analysis and Cox proportional hazard model showed that grade III reflux was a risk factor for recurrent febrile urinary tract infections. Whereas increasing age was protective, use of no prophylaxis was not a risk factor. CONCLUSIONS: For children with or without primary nonsevere reflux, prophylaxis does not reduce the rate of recurrent febrile urinary tract infections after the first episode.