Nephrotic syndrome and abdominal arterial bruits in a young hypertensive patient: a case report.

We report the case of a 34-year-old black African hypertensive woman who presented with nephrotic proteinuria, mild renal failure and abdominal bruits on physical examination. The renal Doppler ultrasound revealed bilateral artery stenosis. Thoracoabdominal aortic nuclear magnetic resonance showed a restriction of proximal descending aorta with post-stenotic spindle dilation while abdominal aorta and iliac vessels appeared diffusely stenotic with atherosclerotic plaques and infrequent spindle dilations and right ostial renal artery stenosis. Renal angiography failed to reveal renal artery stenosis. Right renal biopsy showed type 1 membrano-proliferative glomerulonephritis in sclerotic evolution and severe arteriolosclerosis. The particularly early onset of the disease suggests that the pathogenesis of the membrano-proliferative glomerulonephritis may be multifactorial and related to vascular hypoplasia and chronic renal hypoperfusion leading to renin angiotensin system activation. Hyperlipidemia secondary to nephrotic syndrome may have accelerated systemic atherosclerosis and progression of renal disease.

Cytokine removal under hemodiafiltration with endogenous reinfusion in acute kidney injury secondary to angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma: a case report.

Angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma shows a high release of cytokines. Different blood purification techniques are employed to control hypercytokinemia. Here we investigated the effects of intermittent supra-hemodiafiltration with endogenous reinfusion on cytokine removal in a patient presenting with acute kidney injury. After the first day of chemotherapy for angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a 78-year-old male patient developed acute kidney injury and systemic inflammatory response syndrome due to massive release of inflammatory cytokines. Three sessions of supra-hemodiafiltration were performed. Blood samples for evaluation of renal function and inflammatory mediators were collected at the beginning and the end of each dialytic session. A marked improvement of clinical state and renal function was associated to a significant reduction of inflammatory markers. Our results suggest that renal replacement therapy with supra-hemodiafiltration may remove a wide spectrum of inflammatory mediators and uremic toxins involved in acute kidney injury and systemic inflammatory response syndrome.

[Treatment of electrolyte disorders by hemodialysis]. / La terapia emodialitica dei disordini elettrolitici.

Electrolyte disorders may constitute a life-threatening emergency. Sometimes they can be treated with medical therapy but there are cases where emergency dialysis will be necessary. An important role is played by the dialysate (including different concentrations of electrolytes), which removes uremic toxins and balances the electrolyte disorders in patients with end-stage renal disease. The choice of dialysate is also important for control of the patient's vital functions during the dialysis session and in the period between sessions. Sodium is strongly related to weight gain between dialysis sessions and its concentration causes fluid overload or, on the contrary, hypotension. The choice of the buffer takes into account any possible bicarbonate- or acetate-related systemic effects. Potassium is very important for heart contraction and its fast removal could be associated with cardiac arrhythmias. The role of magnesium is still controversial. Calcium is related to hemodynamic stability, mineral bone disease and also cardiac arrhythmias. A correctly balanced dialysate is important to prevent and reduce intradialytic and interdialytic complications. The dialysate should be tailored to the needs of the individual patient.

Renal resistive index and long-term outcome in chronic nephropathies.

PURPOSE: To assess the clinical validity of renal resistive index (RI) to determine prognosis and guide therapy over a long-term follow-up in patients with chronic nephropathies and to verify the commonly used threshold value of 0.70. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Of patients referred to the nephrology center since 1995, 177 were initially enrolled and 86 were followed up for RI and renal function annually for 2-11 years (mean, 5.93 years +/- 2.92 [standard deviation]). All patients gave informed consent for the institutional review board-approved study. Correlations were determined between initial RI and age, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), proteinuria, hematuria, blood pressure, and biopsy scores. The sample was categorized in four groups on the basis of whether initial values of RI and eGFR were normal, and progression to renal failure was compared. With grouping of the sample by using initial RI (< or =0.61, 0.62-0.69, and > or =0.70), Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to obtain survival curves. RESULTS: Initial RI correlated with final eGFR (R = -0.4, P < .001), systolic blood pressure (R = 0.39, P < .001), proteinuria (R = 0.28, P = .009), and age (R = 0.28, P = .007). In stepwise multiple regression analysis, RI emerged as the only independent risk factor for the progression to renal failure (P < .001). Among the four groups of patients with different initial RIs and eGFRs, the group with an initial RI of 0.70 or higher showed a worse outcome, independent of initial eGFR. In the Kaplan-Meier analysis by using initial RI, only the group with a value of 0.70 or higher showed a rapid decline of renal function (>50% decrease in eGFR in 6 years). CONCLUSION: An RI of 0.70 or higher is predictive of an unfavorable outcome in patients with chronic nephropathies.

The Italian Registry for Therapeutic Apheresis. A report from the Apheresis Study Group of the Italian Society of Nephrology.

Many clinical indications and different technical issues have been reported on therapeutic apheresis: much criticism has also been recorded in several instances, mainly due to the lack of large clinical trials to validate collected data. A Registry where all the available data can be organized and analyzed therefore becomes a priority for all the professionals involved in apheresis. The purpose of this report is to describe the data submitted from 1994 to 2004 from 15,285 treatments on 1,477 patients from 44 Centers, including mainly, but not exclusively, Nephrological Units, collected by the Apheresis Study Group of the Italian Society of Nephrology in 15 Italian regions. Plasma exchange accounted for 56.2% of the procedures, and of these 50.4% were performed by filtration. Plasma treatment was used in 40.1% of procedures, namely with Protein A immunoadsorption (14.6%), LDL-Cholesterol dextran sulfate adsorption (9.7%), and semiselective cascade or double filtration (12.6%). Cell apheresis, limited to photopheresis, was used in 0.85% of cases, and whole blood treatment (direct adsorption lipoprotein, and molecular adsorption recirculating system) in 2.7%. The procedures analyzed here account for less than 20% of estimated therapeutic apheresis performed in Italy, according to the national survey of activity performed for year 2000 by the Italian Apheresis Society. Notwithstanding that the data are largely incomplete, they are sufficiently informative for a definite trend: plasma treatment with filtration on fractionation filters and adsorption must be used as often as possible, instead of plasma exchange, thus obtaining the most selective removals.