Incidence- and mortality-related risk factors of acute kidney injury requiring hemofiltration treatment in patients undergoing cardiac surgery: a single-center 6-year experience.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the incidence and mortality risk factors of severe acute kidney injury (AKI) requiring hemofiltration treatment after cardiac surgery. DESIGN: A single-center, retrospective, case-control study. SETTING: A post-cardiac-surgical intensive care unit at a university hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Nine thousand two hundred twenty-two consecutive adult cardiac surgical patients, among whom 107 developed severe AKI. INTERVENTIONS: Continuous venovenous hemofiltration. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The overall incidence of severe AKI was 1.2%, but it differed with the type of surgical procedure including coronary artery bypass graft surgery, 0.4%; heart valves, 1.7%; aorta surgery, 5.4%; ventricle septum rupture, 52.6%; and other, 6.5%. From 6 predictors of 30-day mortality identified by univariate logistic regression (age, preoperative serum creatinine, New York Heart Association class, resternotomy, postoperative myocardial infarction, and postoperative use of intra-aortic balloon pump [IABP]), only the need for the postoperative use of IABP (odds ratio, 2.9; p = 0.01) and resternotomy (odds ratio, 3.4; p = 0.005) proved stable in multivariate analysis. Kaplan-Meier analysis identified the following overall mortality risk factors: age (p = 0.03), New York Heart Association class ≥II (p = 0.0004), resternotomy (p = 0.02), postoperative myocardial infarction (p = 0.01), and IABP (p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: The risk of developing severe AKI depended on the type of cardiac surgical procedure. Thirty-day mortality was associated with severe perioperative circulation impairment or bleeding, but overall long-term mortality was additionally predicted by age, postoperative myocardial infarct, and preoperative circulation status.

[Acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children with initial leucocytosis above 50,000/mm3: summary of treatment results of Polish Pediatric Leukemia/Lymphoma Study Group]. / Ostra bialaczka limfoblastyczna u dzieci ze wstepna leukocytoza powyzej 50,000/mm3: podsumowanie wyników leczenia Polskiej Pediatrycznej Grupy ds. Leczenia Bialaczek i Chloniaków.

Initial leucocytosis, presence of t(9;22) and t(4;11) translocations and poor response to therapy with steroids or induction chemotherapy are still included to poor risk factors group. From 1981 to 1986, children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and initial WBC above 50,000/mm3, achieved significantly worse treatment results than children with lower WBC: over 6-year disease-free survival were respectively 33% and 60%. In attempt to improve treatment results in children with hyperleucocytosis, modified American protocols called: New York (1987), New York I (1997), and New York II (1999) were introduced consecutively in the centers of Polish Pediatric Leukemia/ Lymphoma Study Group. Actually treatment results obtained with those protocols in three groups of patients: group I: 214 children (1987-1996), group II: 58 children (1997-1999), and group III: 77 children (1999-2001) are presented. The observation was completed in March 31, 2004. In evaluated groups the first complete remissions (CR) were achieved in 91%, 95%, and 96% of patients, respectively. Relapses occurred in 72 patients of group I (37%), in 12 patients of group II (21%), and in 13 patients of group III (18%). The 5-year overall survivals were: 62%, 79%, and 78% (p=0.05) respectively; 5 year event-free survivals (EFS) were: 52%, 74%, and 69% (p=0.01) respectively. A significant improvement in treatment results in second compared with first group was achieved. Treatment results obtained with New York II are comparable with results obtained with New York I. The analysis of treatment results achieved shows the improvement of the prognosis in children with ALL and initial WBC above 50 000/mm3 in comparison with patients treated before 1987. There is strong necessity of unification of risk group qualification criteria in childhood ALL in term of comparable estimation treatment results achieved in different centers all over the world.

[Advances in the treatment of children with high risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) treated with modified "NEW YORK" protocols between 1987 and 2002]. / Postepy w leczeniu dzieci z ostra bialaczka limfoblastyczna (ALL) wysokiego ryzyka wg modyfikowanych programów "NOWY JORK" w latach 1987-2002.

From 1981 to 1986, in children with ALL and initial WBC > or = 50,000/mm3, over 6-year disease-free survival was significantly lower (33%) than in children with WBC < 50,000/mm3 (60%). In attempt to improve this unsatisfactory results, three modified American protocols named: "New York", "New York I", and "New York II", "New York I", and "New York II" were introduced consecutively in the centers of Polish Pediatric Leukemia Lymphoma Study Group (respectively, in 1987, 1997, and 1999). The treatment results achieved in three consecutive therapeutic groups of children with ALL and initial WBC > or = 50,000/mm3: group I--213 children (1987-1996), group II--58 children (1997-1999), and group III--52 children (1999-2001) are presented. The observation was completed in December 31, 2002. In three evaluated groups the first complete remissions (CRs) were achieved in 90.6%. 94.8%. and 94.2% of patients, respectively. Relapses occurred in 71 patients of group I (37%), in 9 patients of group II (16%), and in 6 patients of group III (12%). The complications of treatment caused death in 7 children of group I, in 1 child of group II, and in 2 children of group III. Eighty-one (38%), 11 (18.9%), and 9 (17.3%) patients, respectively, died due to progression of disease. The event-free survival (EFS) in three evaluated groups did not depend on age of children and WBC. The rates of 2-, 5-, and 10-year event-free survival (EFS) in group I were: 69.9%, 55.3%, and 53.6%, respectively and the rates of 2- and 5-year EFS in group II were: 80.7% and 72.7%, respectively. The rate of 2-year EFS in group III was 71.6%. The analysis of achieved treatment results in three evaluated groups shows the gradual improvement of the prognosis in children with ALL and initial WBC > or = 50,000/mm3 treated with the use of modified protocols "New York" and "New York I" in comparison with patients treated before 1987. Longer observation is needed for evaluation of efficacy and complications of "New York II" protocol.

Course of viral hepatitis B and combined B and C hepatitis in children treated for neoplastic diseases.

BACKGROUND: Viral hepatitis C in children is milder than in adults. Patients with tumors, because of immune deficits, seem to be at risk of rapid liver disease progression. Little is known about the course of HCV and dual HBV-HCV infections in such patients. MATERIAL/METHODS: The study assessed clinical courses of HCV and dual HBV-HCV infections in 249 children with tumors aged 1-18 years, divided into four groups: with HCV infection - 53, HBV-HCV infection - 53, HBV only - 33 and infection-free - 110. RESULTS: Hepatitis C was often chronic - in 83.3% of patients with HCV and 77.3% of those with dual infection. Over 80% had no jaundice. Mean AlAT activity was the highest in the HCV group (149.2I202.7 IU/l), lower in the dual infection group (123.3I148.1 IU/l; p<0.02), and the lowest in HBV (92.7I152.9 IU/l). Transaminasemia course in patients with HCV and dual HBV-HCV infections was most frequently fluctuating (50.9% and 45.3%, respectively). 52.8% of children with HCV demonstrated no advanced inflammatory lesions with invasion of the lamina limitans, no marked fibrosis, and minimum changes in descriptive classification. In 92.3% of children with dual infections, inflammatory activity was mild or mean, with no fibrosis in 61.5%, and persistent chronic inflammation predominant in descriptive classification (46.1%). CONCLUSIONS: HCV and HBV-HCV infections in children with neoplastic diseases tend to take chronic forms, but their clinical course is mild with signs of severe inflammatory activity or hepatic stroma remodeling observed on histopathology.