Current state of dialysis treatment and vascular access management in Japan.

According to the data from the Japanese Society for Dialysis Therapy, the number of dialysis patients was about 330,000 at the end of 2016. The mean age of newly initiated patients was 69.4 years and that of maintenance was 68.2 years. And, diabetic nephropathy is the most common primary disease, with an incidence rate of 43.2%. These results mean that the systemic vascular condition is getting worse. In spite of these backgrounds, the patients of 97.3% were treated by hemodialysis; therefore, careful management of vascular access is essential to better maintain the condition of patients. The Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study shows that vascular access modalities are an important factor in determining prognoses of patients and that prognosis in Japan is one of the best worldwide. In Japan, the use of arteriovenous fistulae accounts for 95% of vascular access modalities. However, a statistic by Japanese Society for Dialysis Therapy suggests that the use of arteriovenous graft has been increasing. In 2005, Japanese Society for Dialysis Therapy Guidelines recommended percutaneous transluminal angioplasty be the first choice for the treatment of vascular access stenosis. Since then, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty has become an important procedure for long-term maintenance of the morphology and function of vascular access. In Japan, approximately 60% of percutaneous transluminal angioplasty are conducted by nephrologists and urologists; in addition, arteriovenous fistulae creation procedures are also performed by them. According to my private opinion, such conditions above show that even in the absence of standardized training on vascular access management, doctors on site perform their duties in an appropriate manner. However, the problems of how we evaluate the specificity in Japan and pass it down the generations still remain.

Effectiveness of skin perfusion pressure monitoring during surgery for an ischemic steal syndrome associated refractory ulcer.

We describe an 80-year-old man with end-stage renal disease due to type 2 diabetes who had been maintained on hemodialysis for 9 years. He developed refractory ulcers from an abraded wound in the right hand of his access arm. The arteriovenous fistula (AVF) was located between the right brachial artery and the median antecubital vein draining into the cephalic vein and the deep veins close to the elbow. The blood flow of the right brachial artery measured by using Doppler ultrasonography was 920 ml/min. On the contrary, the radial and ulnar arteries were poorly palpable near the wrist, and ultrasonography could not be performed accurately because of a high degree of calcification. The skin perfusion pressure (SPP) of the first finger on the affected side decreased to 22 mmHg. However, the SPP improved to approximately 40 mmHg upon blocking an inflow into the deep vein. According to SPP data, only a communicating branch of the deep vein was ligated, and the AVF itself was preserved. One month after surgery, the skin ulcer healed, and maintenance hemodialysis was performed by using the preserved cephalic vein for blood access.In conclusion, we successfully treated a refractory wound associated with steal syndrome, without terminating the AVF. SPP-guided surgery may be safe and effective to adjust the blood flow in patients with AVF having steal syndrome.

Severe alcoholic hepatitis with extremely high neutrophil count successfully treated by granulocytapheresis.

We report a severe alcoholic hepatitis (SAH) patient with an extremely high WBC count, high serum bilirubin and low prothrombin time (PT) successfully treated with granulocytapheresis. After neutrophil-elastase inhibitor failed to reduce WBC count, methylprednisolone pulse therapy was performed. However, WBC count continued to be elevated to 97,190/microl (neutrophils 97.0%) despite improvement of total bilirubin and PT. After 5 sessions of granulocytapheresis and ulinastatin administration, increased serum IL-6, IL-8, neutrophil-elastase and WBC count gradually decreased. We could conclude that granulocytapheresis and ulinastatin can be very effective in reducing cytokines and neutrophil-elastase, and in improving the general status of SAH patients.