Regulation of Calcium Homeostasis in Acute Kidney Injury: A Prospective Observational Study.

Background: Maintaining homeostasis is an integral part of all physiological processes both in health and disease including critically ill patients and may impact clinical outcomes. The present study was designed to assess prevalence of serum calcium, phosphate, vitamin-D3, FGF-23, and PTH levels abnormalities in AKI. Patients and methods: Single-center, prospective, observational study in a tertiary care hospital. Patients meeting KDIGO criteria for AKI were included. Paired blood samples were drawn from eligible patients-first sample within 24 hours of AKI diagnosis and second after 5 days or at time of hospital discharge, whichever was earlier for measuring serum calcium (albumin corrected), phosphate, PTH, 25(OH)Vit-D, and FGF-23 levels. Clinical outcomes analyzed included survival status, utilization of RRT, and hospital stay. Results: Of the 50 patients with AKI, about three-fourths were males. Mean age of the participants was 57.32 ± 11.47 years. Around half of patients had hypocalcemia and four-fifths had low serum phosphate. Nearly 82% had low 25(OH)Vit-D and 52% cases had high PTH level. Patients who underwent RRT had numerically higher but not significant serum calcium and PTH levels. FGF-23 levels (pg/mL) were significantly higher in patients on RRT (81.70 ± 17.30 vs non-RRT, 72.43 ± 20.27, p = 0.049), nonsurvivors (87.96 ± 18.82 vs survivors 57.11 ± 15.19, p = 0.045), and those hospitalized for time of stay above median (109.67 ± 26.97 vs below median 70.27 ± 20.43, p = 0.046). Among all the bone and mineral parameters analyzed high FGF23 levels were consistently linked with poor clinical outcomes in AKI. Conclusion: The present study found high prevalence of calcium and phosphate disorders in AKI with dysregulated phosphate homeostasis as evidenced from elevated FGF-23 levels linked with morbidity and mortality in AKI. How to cite this article: Singh NP, Panwar V, Aggarwal NP, Chhabra SK, Gupta AK, Ganguli A. Regulation of Calcium Homeostasis in Acute Kidney Injury: A Prospective Observational Study. Indian J Crit Care Med 2022;26(3):302-306.

Postgraduate institute management protocol for invasive Aspergillus flavus sinusitis: is it effective?

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the results of a postgraduate institute management protocol for invasive Aspergillus flavus sinusitis. METHODS: This was a prospective study wherein all patients with a final histopathological diagnosis of invasive sino-orbital aspergillosis were included for the period between January 1998 and December 2005. All the patients were negative for HIV, diabetes, and chronic granulomatous disease. All patients were evaluated clinically, biochemically, and radiologically for the condition, and were classified into four groups on the basis of clinical and radiological findings. All patients were subjected to endonasal endoscopic biopsy and were subjected as per the management protocol. These patients were then followed up clinically, endoscopically, and radiologically for a period ranging from 9 months to 7 years. RESULTS: A total of 74 patients were enrolled in the study, 52 males and 22 females, ranging in age from 26 to 53 years. The most common sign was proptosis. The patients in each group were subjected to the treatment protocol decided for the group. Overall, residual disease was seen in 14 patients (18.9%) and recurrence was seen in six patients (8.1%). Twenty-four (32.4%) patients died of the disease in our series. Residual disease and recurrent disease were seen more often in the advanced cases. CONCLUSION: Invasive sino-orbital aspergillosis is associated with significant mortality. By following our management protocol we were able to reduce the mortality to 32.4% in our series.

Cranionasal fistula in pediatric population: is endonasal endoscopic approach effective?

PURPOSE: To study the efficacy and safety of endoscopic endonasal repair of CSF leak in pediatric population. STUDY DESIGN: A prospective study in a tertiary care center. PATIENTS AND METHODS: All the cases with a age of less than 14 years with a diagnosis of CSF rhinorrhoea were included in the study. These were subjected to detailed examination, radiological evaluation using computed tomographic cisternography and MRI if required. These cases were then subjected to endoscopic endonasal repair of the fistula using the technique described in the text. RESULTS: There were 25 cases in the study with a male predominance and trauma responsible for 22 of these and spontaneous leak in 3 of the cases. The majority of these leaks were from cribriform plate area. After the repair, there was no leak in 24 of these cases and 1 case with recurrence did well after second surgery. DISCUSSION: The prior work on the entity of CSF rhinorrhoea in children consists of a few case reports only and ours is the largest series on endoscopic repair of the CSF leak in children showing it to be safe and effective with a success rate of 96%. CONCLUSION: Endoscopic closure of the cranio nasal fistula is associated with a high degree of success (96% in our series) and has significantly less morbidity and mortality when compared with the craniotomy approach. Hence it can be concluded that it is the standard of care for the pediatric population as well.

Traumatic optic neuropathy in pediatric population: early intervention or delayed intervention?

PURPOSE: The aim of this randomized prospective study was to evaluate role of early decompression in the cases of traumatic optic neuropathy in children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-one children with a diagnosis of traumatic optic neuropathy were operated upon by transnasal trans-sphenoidal optic nerve decompression and the results were evaluated. RESULTS: Patients presenting early and those who were operated early in the course of their illness showed a better recovery. CONCLUSION: Early intervention can help preventing the blindness in as many as 80 and of the cases following the injury.