Major determinants of primary non function from kidney donation after Maastricht II circulatory death: A single center experience.

PURPOSE: Organ shortage greatly limits treatment of patients with end-stage chronic kidney. Maastricht type 2 donation after circulatory death (DCD) has been shown to have similar results in long term outcomes in kidney transplantation, when compared with brain dead donation. Our main goal was to assess Maastricht type 2 DCD and evaluate factors that impact on early graft function. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted in an ECMO Referral Centre. All patients who received a kidney transplant from Maastricht type 2 DCD were included in study. Early graft function and short term outcomes were assessed. RESULTS: From October 2017 to December 2022, 47 renal grafts were collected from 24 uDCD donors. Median warm ischemia time was 106 min (94-115), cannulation time was 10 min (8; 20) and duration of extracorporeal reperfusion (ANOR) was 180 min (126-214). Regarding early graft function, 25% had immediate graft function, 63.6% had delayed graft function and 11.4% had primary non-function (PNF). There was a correlation between cannulation time (p = 0.006) and ANOR with PNF (p = 0.016). CONCLUSIONS: Cannulation time and ANOR were the main factors that correlated with PNF. Better understanding of underlying mechanisms should be sought in future studies to reduce the incidence of PNF.

Anticoagulation Management in V-V ECMO Patients: A Multidisciplinary Pragmatic Protocol.

(1) Background: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a complex procedure affecting both the risk of thrombosis and bleeding. High-quality data to personalize anticoagulation management in ECMO are lacking, resulting in a high variability in practice among centers. For this reason, we review coagulation methods and monitoring and share a pragmatic proposal of coagulation management, as performed in our high-volume ECMO Referral Centre; (2) Methods: We revised the anticoagulation options and monitoring methods available for coagulation management in ECMO through PubMed search based on words including "anticoagulation," "coagulation assays," "ECMO," "ELSO," and "ISTH"; (3) Results: Actual revision of the literature was described as our routine practice regarding ECMO anticoagulation and monitoring; (4) Conclusions: No coagulation test is exclusively predictive of bleeding or thrombotic risk in patients undergoing ECMO support. An approach that allows for a tailored regimen of anticoagulation (regardless of agent used) and monitoring is mandatory. To accomplish this, we propose that the titration of anticoagulation therapies should include multiple laboratory tests, including anti-Xa, aPTT, ACT, viscoelastic tests, AT levels, platelet count, fibrinogen, and FXIII levels. Anticoagulation regimens should be tailored to a specific patient and personalized based on this complex array of essays.

Austrian Syndrome: a report of an exceptionally rare and deadly syndrome / Síndrome de Austrian: descrição de uma entidade excepcionalmente rara e mortal

ABSTRACT: Austrian Syndrome is the rare combination of a triad of endocarditis, meningitis, and pneumonia in the context of pneumococcal infection. Due to the involvement of several anatomical sites, the Austrian syndrome has a high mortality. Importantly, endocarditis is usually not considered during pneumococcal infection. We present a case of Austrian syndrome in a previously healthy 67-year-old woman. She featured with mental state alteration, respiratory failure, and shock, and was diagnosed with ceftriaxone-sensitive pneumococcal bacteremia, meningitis, and pneumonia. A transesophageal echocardiogram revealed vegetation of the mitral valve. Despite an improvement in her medical condition, she remained in a coma and died due to neurological complications. Even though the major cause of mortality in Austrian syndrome is cardiac involvement, meningitis is also linked with high morbidity and eventually death. We emphasize the relevance of an early diagnosis of the triad in order to decrease the very high mortality associated with this syndrome

RESUMO: A síndrome de Austrian é uma entidade extremamente rara, pautada por meningite, endocardite e pneumonia secundárias a doença pneumocócica invasiva. Devido à expressão multissistêmica, a mortalidade associada é elevada. Particularmente, a manifestação como endocardite é muitas vezes clinicamente insuspeita, carecendo de elevado índice de suspeita. Apresenta-se um caso de síndrome de Austrian numa doente do sexo feminino, 67 anos, previamente saudável. Clinicamente, apresentava coma, insuficiência respiratória e choque, tendo sido diagnosticada pneumonia e meningite, e com bacteremia a Streptococcus pneumoniae. Ecocardiograma transesofágico evidenciou uma vegetação na válvula mitral. Apesar da regressão do quadro respiratório, persistiu um quadro de coma, acabando a doente por morrer. Apesar da principal causa de morte descrita na síndrome de Austrian estar relacionada com complicações de endocardite, apresenta-se um caso único de apresentação e morte por meningite. Com poucos casos descritos mundialmente, sublinha-se a necessidade de um diagnóstico precoce desta tríade, motivo pelo qual relatamos o caso descrito

Blood cultures on internal medicine: utilization profile and clinical implications

Introduction: recent literature suggests that excessive use of blood cultures could prolong length of stay and hospital costs. Moreover, low positive rates have been reported and positivity predictive scores have recently been proposed. Methods: we conducted an observational prospective study in an Internal Medicine department of a university reference hospital analysing data from all patients to whom BC was requested. Results: blood cultures were performed in 39.9% of 414 admissions. Patients with blood cultures had higher length of stay and underwent more laboratory and imaging diagnostic tests. Global positivity rate was of 7.5%. Patients fulfilling sepsis criteria had a higher positivity rate (21.7%) and there were no positive blood cultures in patients without sepsis, namely in cases of isolated creactive protein elevation, leucocytosis or fever. In addition, blood cultures results were not a determinant of antibiotic adjust or de-escalation. Conclusions: our data suggest that the use of BC should be done essentially in patients with sepsis criteria, reducing its unnecessary use, although more studies are required to validate such practice (AU)

Introdução: o uso excessivo de hemoculturas tem sido associado a aumento do tempo de internamento e de custos hospitalares. Adicionalmente, a literatura médica reporta taxas de positividade abaixo do esperado, levando à criação de índices de predição de positividade. Métodos: estudo prospectivo observacional conduzido numa enfermaria de Medicina Interna de um hospital terciário, com recolha de dados de todos os doentes a quem foram realizadas hemoculturas. Resultados: em 414 admissões, foram colhidas hemoculturas em 39.9%. Os doentes a quem foram colhidas hemoculturas tiveram maior tempo de internamento e mais exames laboratoriais e imagiológicos pedidos. 7,5% das hemoculturas foram positivas. Nos doentes com critérios de sepsis a taxa de positividade das hemoculturas foi 21,7% e não houve nenhuma hemocultura positiva em doente sem critérios de sépsis, nomeadamente em doentes com elevação isolada de proteína c-reactiva, leucocitose ou febre. O resultado da hemocultura não foi um determinante de de-escalação antibiótica. Conclusões: este estudo sugere que as hemoculturas devem ser colhidas essencialmente em doentes com sepsis, podendo esta prática diminuir o seu sobreuso. (AU)