Etiologic-sociodemographic assessment and comparison of dialysis modalities in pediatric Syrian migrants with chronic kidney disease.

BACKGROUND: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) are among the important causes of mortality and morbidity in childhood. Early diagnosis and treatment of the underlying primary disease may prevent most of CKD patients from progressing to ESRD. There is no study examining chronic kidney diseases and dialysis modalities in Syrian immigrant children. We aimed to retrospectively research the etiologic, sociodemographic, and clinical factors in CKD among Syrian refugee children, and at the same time, to compare the clinical characteristics of patients with ESRD on peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis. METHODS: Our study included a total of 79 pediatric Syrian patients aged from 2-16 years monitored at Hatay State Hospital pediatric nephrology clinic with diagnosis of various stages of CKD and with ESRD. Physical-demographic features and clinical-laboratory information were retrospectively screened. RESULTS: The most common cause of CKD was congenital anomalies of the kidneys and urinary tracts (CAKUT) (37.9%). Other causes were urolitiasis (15.1%), nephrotic syndrome (10.1%), spina bifida (8.8%), hemolytic uremic syndrome (7.5%), and glomerulonephritis (7.5%). Twenty-five patients used hemodialysis due to bad living conditions. Only 2 of the patients with peritoneal dialysis were using automatic peritoneal dialysis (APD), with 5 using continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). Long-term complications like left ventricle hypertrophy and retinopathy were significantly higher among hemodialysis patients. There was no difference identified between the groups in terms of hypertension and sex. CONCLUSION: Progression to ESRD due to preventable reasons is very frequent among CKD patients. For more effective use of peritoneal dialysis in pediatric patients, the responsibility of states must be improved.

Anca-associated crescentic glomerulonephritis in a child with isolated renal involvement.

Pauci-immune glomerulonephritis (GN) is more common in elderly people compared to children and the etiology is not completely understood yet. Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) positivity occurs in 80% of the patients. We report a case of a 7-year-old girl who presented with malaise and mildly elevated creatinine diagnosed as ANCA-associated pauci-immune crescentic glomerulonephritis with crescents in 20 of 25 glomeruli (80%). Of these 20 crescents, 12 were cellular, 4 fibrocellular, and 4 globally sclerotic. She did not have purpura, arthritis, or systemic symptoms and she responded well to initial immunosuppressive treatment despite relatively severe histopathology. The patient was given three pulses of intravenous methylprednisolone (30 mg/kg on alternate days) initially and continued with cyclophosphamide (CYC; 2 mg/kg per day) orally for 3 months with prednisone (1 mg/kg per day). In one month, remission was achieved with normal serum creatinine and prednisone was gradually tapered. The case of this child with a relatively rare pediatric disease emphasizes the importance of early and aggressive immunosuppressive treatment in patients with renal-limited ANCA-associated pauci-immune crescentic GN even if with a mild clinical presentation. As in our patient, clinical and laboratory findings might not always exactly reflect the severity of renal histopathology and thus kidney biopsy is mandatory in such children to guide the clinical management and predict prognosis.