[Clinical and genetic basis of hypertensive nephrosclerosis. NEFROSEN Study]. / Bases clínicas y genéticas de la nefroesclerosis hipertensiva. Estudio NEFROSEN.

BACKGROUND: Hypertensive nephrosclerosis is a chronic kidney disease (CKD) associated with essential hypertension. The lack of correlation between hypertension control and progression to end-stage CKD suggests an intrinsic and primitive disease. New evidence suggests that MYH9 gene alterations are associated with polymorphisms in African Americans. The aim of this study is to investigate whether a polymorphism of MYH9 in Caucasians is linked to essential hypertension and nephrosclerosis. The secondary objective is to identify the clinical risk factors of progression to end-stage CKD. This is a retrospective study that will compare patients with nephrosclerosis and essential hypertensives without renal disease, and also patients with nephrosclerosis and impaired renal function with those that are stable. METHOD: Between October 2009 and October 2010, 500 patients with stages 3-5 CKD attributed to nephrosclerosis according to usual clinical criteria, and 300 essential hypertensives (eGFR>60 mL/min/1.73 m2; microalbuminuria <300 mg/g) are to be recruited. A total of 200 healthy controls from the general population are also to be included for the genetic study. There are two study sections, being the first and final visits to the clinic (for stage 5 cases, the start of replacement therapy will be the end of follow-up). Clinical and laboratory data will be recorded, and blood samples will be collected. DISCUSSION: Our study will aim to determine if there is a relationship between the diagnosis of nephrosclerosis and the MYH9 gene in Caucasians, and to study possible risk factors for progression to end-stage CKD, on both clinical and genetic bases.

[Treating high blood pressure in kidney patients: evidence and implications]. / Tratamiento de la hipertensión arterial en pacientes con enfermedad renal crónica. Evidencias e implicaciones.

The main aim delaying progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) are tight control of blood pressure to levels below 130/80 mmHg and reductioner 24-h urine protein to <0.5 g or microalbuminuria to <300 mg/g. First-line agents for renoprotection are angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers at the highest tolerated dose. The combination of these types of drugs, the so-called dual blockade, further reduces an elevated urinary albumin or protein excretion but, at least in patients at high cardiovascular risk, does not delay progression of renal failure. An intensified multifactorial intervention is necessary for renal patients because 35 to 50% of cases with grade 3 or 4 CKD are prone to premature complications such as end-stage renal disease and/or cardiovascular events. New strategies to block the renin-angiotensin system could be of help in improving of outcomes in CKD patients.

[Novelties in the European Hypertension Guide 2007. European Society of Cardiology. European Society of Hypertension]. / Novedades en la Guía Europea de Hipertensión 2007.

The 2007 European Guidelines on Hypertension are jointly sponsored by the European Society of Cardiology and the European Society of Hypertension. Changes with respect to the previous 2003 Guidelines are few but some are significant. Perhaps the most significant change is inclusion of metabolic syndrome as a cardiovascular risk factor similar in importance to diabetes mellitus or target-organ damage. Also striking is the recognition of chronic kidney disease as a very high risk condition in hypertensive patients. Masked arterial hypertension (AHT) is included for the first time as a new entity that is present in 10-15% of cases and associated with increased cardiovascular risk. The eye fundus examination is no longer considered necessary in the diagnostic evaluation. The decision to start treatment should be based on systolic and diastolic BP values and on assessment of total cardiovascular risk. Drug therapy should be started early. The delay to check the response to nonpharmacological measures should be only some weeks and not months as was previously established. Any of the five large groups (diuretics, beta-blockers, calcium antagonists, ACE inhibitors and angiotensin II blockers) is valid for the first stage of treatment, although the choice should be individualized based on the possible risk factors and associated cardiovascular and renal disease. The guidelines place strong emphasis on drug combinations because most patients will require more than one drug for their control.

[Tesio catheters for long-term hemodialysis: our experience in a comarcal hospital]. / Catêteres de Tesio permanentes para realización de hemodiálisis crónica: nuestra experiencia en un hospital comarcal.

INTRODUCTION: Good vascular access remains the cornerstone of effective hemodialysis treatment. The Tesio catheters has been proposed to be a reliable source of vascular access for the dialysis patients. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We examined all Tesio catheters inserted over a 3-year period in our hospital. We obtained age, sex, dialysis duration, original nephropaty, vascular access history, complications, dialysis parameters, catheter function duration, confort level for patients and nurses, and death in all our cases. RESULTS: 33 catheters were inserted in 30 patients, 14 male and 16 female. Age 73,92 +/- 9,22 years. Dialysis duration, 25,64 +/- 53,45 months. Diabetic nephropaty 26,66%, NAE 40%, others 33,33%. First vascular access in 13 patients (43,33%), one previously fistula, 5 patients (16,66%), and more of one FAV, 12 patients (40%). We observed two bleeding cases, eight parcial trombosis, one total trombosis (non-function), six tunneled infection and two systemic infection. Only 3 catheters were removal. We obteined good dialysis parameters. Confort state for patients and nurses were satisfactory. Death 12 patients. Catheter function at the moment of study 16,76 +/-12,99 months. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that Tesio catheters can provide excellent long-term vascular access for hemodialysis patients, especially in the older people and with some previous failure fistulas, with low complication rates and acceptable dialysis parameters and tolerance. However, the arteriovenous fistula remains the gold standard for long-term hemodialysis access.

[Severe maternal complications associated with pre-eclampsia: an almost forgotten pathology?]. / Complicaciones maternas graves asociadas a la pre-eclampsia: una patología casi olvidada?

Pre-eclampsia is a pregnancy-specific hypertensive syndrome associated with significant morbidity and mortality in mother and baby. With the increasing understanding of the disease process, the number of complications, and the maternal and perinatal deaths have fallen over the last few decades in the developed countries. In other parts of the world, the rates of mortality and morbidity remain high. We present eight cases of pre-eclamptic women with severe complications (eclampsia, HELLP syndrome, acute pulmonary edema, acute renal failure...) that were treated at our hospital in only a year, when we had not seen these pathologies in the last nine years. There was fetal death in three of the cases, related to abruptio placentae. There were no maternal deaths, but four mothers needed to be transferred to the intensive care unit, and required life-support techniques. The causes of these new events remain unclear. Can they be due to increase in maternal age or to the high incidence of abruptio placentae? Or maybe can they occur only by chance? These women with pre-eclampsia and severe complications that can have potentially devastating consequences are not an easily identified group. We concluded that women with pregnancy hypertension must be carefully managed by expert physicians, particularly if they are more than 30-35 years old, overweight, with previous history of hypertension or nulliparous, in order to decrease these several complications.

[Preeclampsia and peripartum cardiomyopathy: infrequent association]. / Pre-eclampsia y miocardiopatía periparto: una asociación infrecuente.

Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a rare form of congestive heart failure that affects women late in pregnancy or in the early puerperium. PPCM is a disorder of unknown etiology that can have potentially devastating consequences. Although the etiology of PPCM remains unclear, a number of risk factors for this disorder have been proposed. However, the disease can occurred in women without these risk factors. Preeclampsia is associated with PPCM. However, cardiomyopathy is an infrequent complication of preeclampsia. Treatment of PPCM is similar to that other types of congestive heart failure. The pregnancy outcome is uncertain. Probably it depends on whether ther heart size returns to normal. We present the case of a 38 years old woman, who developed in an 33rd week of gestation a PPCM. She had some risk factors (include preeclampsia) but had a favorable evolution with conventional treatment. The rarity of the syndrome, its potential consequences, and the probable association with preeclampsia, stimulated us to present this case.

[Acute interstitial nephritis induced by loratadine]. / Loratadina y nefritis intersticial aguda.

Loratadine is a second generation histamine H1 receptor antagonist, that has high potency antiallergic properties and is associated with low adverse effects compared with other antihistamines. Acute interstitial nephritis is a cause of acute renal failure that is most often induced by drugs or, less frequently, infection or sarcoidosis. Although the number of drugs associated with acute intersticial nephritis is too large, the antihistaminic loratadine have never been reported before. We report a case of an interstitial nephritis with acute renal failure that suggesting hypersensitivity reaction in a 77 old man who had received loratadine (10 mg/day) during ten days before his assessment to our hospital by disseminated pruritic syndrome. The initial suspect was rapidly progressive glomerulonephitis and renal biopsy was practice and treatment with corticosteroids were initiated (prednisone bolus of 500 mg three days and 1 mg/kg/day/later). The loratadine therapy was cessation. He exhibiting a slow and progressive improvement on renal function and one month later, urea and creatinine levels was normal and hematuria and proteinuria had disappeared. The corticosteroids therapy were progressive decreased until withdrawal. We think that this is an interesting case, basing in its clinical presentation and that it had never been reported before.

[Serous retinal detachment in systemic erithematosus lupus during corticosteroid therapy]. / Desprendimientos serosos retinianos asociados a corticoterapia en un lupus eritematoso sistémico.

CASE REPORT: A young female patient with systemic lupus erithematosus, inactive for a long period, is described. She develops bilateral serous detachments of the retinal pigment epithelium and neurosensory retina after corticosteroid therapy for a residual nephritis. DISCUSSION: This unusual chorioretinopathy has been reported in association with systemic lupus erithematosus and during corticosteroid therapy in many disorders. This patient, with low activity erithematosus lupus, develops serous retinal detachments after receiving corticosteroid therapy that damage the coriocapillary-pigment epithelium barrier, disordered in lupus patients.

Bases clínicas y genéticas de la nefroesclerosis hipertensiva. Estudio NEFROSEN / Clinical and genetic bases of hypertensive nephrosclerosis. NEFROSEN Study

Justificación: Se conoce como nefroesclerosis la enfermedad renal crónica (ERC) que complica la hipertensión arterial (HTA) esencial. La ausencia de correlación entre el control de la HTA y la progresión a ERC terminal sugiere la existencia de una enfermedad intrínseca y primitiva. Recientemente se ha asociado con polimorfismos del gen MYH9 en individuos afroamericanos. El objetivo del trabajo que presentamos es determinar si algún polimorfismo de dicho gen se relaciona en raza caucásica con la asociación de HTA esencial y nefroesclerosis y, además, conocer los marcadores de progresión a ERC terminal. Será un estudio retrospectivo que comparará a pacientes con nefroesclerosis frente a pacientes con HTA esencial sin enfermedad renal y, además, se incluirán pacientes con nefroesclerosis y progresión de la enfermedad renal frente a los que se mantienen estables. Métodos: Entre octubre de 2009 y octubre de 2010 se incluirán 500 pacientes con ERC (estadios 3-5) atribuida a nefroesclerosis según criterios clínicos habituales, y 300 pacientes afectados de HTA esencial (FGe >60ml/min/1,73 m2; microalbuminuria <300 mg/g). Para el estudio genético también se incluirán 200 controles sanos de población general. Habrá dos cortes del estudio, la primera visita en el hospital y la visita final (en estadio 5 el inicio del tratamiento sustitutivo constituirá el final del seguimiento). Se registrarán datos clínicos y analíticos, y se recogerán muestras de sangre para el estudio genético. Discusión: Nuestro estudio, con la doble vertiente genética y clínica, tratará de determinar si en la raza caucásica existe relación entre el diagnóstico de nefroesclerosis y el gen MYH9, y estudiará, además, los posibles marcadores de progresión (AU)

Background: Hypertensive nephrosclerosis is a chronic kidney disease (CKD) associated to essential hypertension. The lack of correlation between strict control of hypertension and progression of CKD suggests an intrinsic and primary disease. New evidence suggests that MYH9 gene alterations are associated with nephrosclerosis in African Americans. The aim of this study is to investigate whether a polymorphism of MYH9 in Caucasians is linked to the association of essential hypertension and nephrosclerosis. The secondary objective is to identify the clinical risk factors of progression to end-stage renal disease (ESRD). This is a retrospective study that will compare patients with nephrosclerosis versus essential hypertensives without renal disease, and also patients with nephrosclerosis and impaired rena l function versu s those that are stable .Methods: Between October 2009 and October 2010, 500patients stages 3-5 CKD attributed to nephrosclerosis according to usual clinical criteria, and 300 essential hypertensives (eGFR > 60 mL/min/1.73m2; mi c roalbuminur ia<300 mg/g) will be recruited. 200 healthy controls from general population will also be included for the genetic study. There will be two sections of the study, first and final visit to the clinic (stage 5, the start of replacement therapy will be the end of follow-up). Clinical and laboratory data will be recorded, and blood samples will be collected. Discussion: Our study will seek to determine if there exists a relationship between the diagnosis of nephrosclerosis and MYH9 gene in the Caucasian race, and to study possible risk factors for progression to ESRD, on both clinical and genetic basis (AU)

Unilateral renal cell carcinoma with coexistent renal disease: a rare cause of end-stage renal disease.

BACKGROUND: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a disorder encompassing a wide spectrum of pathological renal lesions. Coexistence of unilateral RCC and associated pathology in the contralateral kidney is an unusual and challenging therapeutic dilemma that can result in renal failure. So far, data on unilateral RCC with chronic renal failure necessitating renal replacement therapy have not been published. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the incidence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) from unilateral RCC, and to assess the associated pathology and possible pathogenic factors. METHODS: In 1999, a survey of the 350 patients treated by chronic dialysis in Asturias, Spain, was carried out to identify and collect clinical information on patients with primary unilateral RCC whilst on their renal replacement programme. RESULTS: Seven patients were identified as having ESRD and unilateral RCC, giving an incidence of 2% of patients treated by dialysis. There was a wide spectrum of associated disease and clinical presentation. All patients underwent radical or partial nephrectomy and were free of recurrence 6--64 months after surgery. Six patients were alive and free of malignancy recurrence for 6--30 months after the onset of haemodialysis. CONCLUSION: ESRD is rare in association with unilateral RCC, but does contribute to significant morbidity. However, the data presented here are encouraging and suggest that cancer-free survival with renal replacement therapy can be achieved in such patients.

Is the loss of health-related quality of life during renal replacement therapy lower in elderly patients than in younger patients?

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have reported that elderly (aged 65 years or over) end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients have poorer health-related quality of life (HRQOL) than both younger patients and healthy subjects of the same age. The aim of present study was to evaluate the effect of ESRD and its treatment on the HRQOL, and to determine the effects of age and gender. METHODS: A cross-sectional multicentric study was carried out with 485 haemodialysis and renal-transplant patients, using the SF-36 Health Survey to evaluate their HRQOL. SF-36 scores were standardized by age and gender using Spanish normative data. Karnofsky scale score (KS), socio-demographic, and clinical data were also collected. RESULTS: In renal-replacement therapy (RRT), chronic haemodialysis, and renal-transplant patients, SF-36 standardized scores of elderly patients were higher than in younger patients. Therefore the reduction in HRQOL of elderly patients, in relationship with that of the general population of the same age and gender, was lower than in younger patients. In the case of renal-transplant patients, standardized scores in elderly patients were higher than in the general population for all parameters. CONCLUSIONS: Using standardized scores, elderly patients on renal replacement therapy (haemodialysis and kidney transplant) had relatively better HRQOL than younger patients, and in the case of transplant patients, they had even better HRQOL than in the general population of the same age and gender.

[Nephrotic syndrome and anasarca status, secondary to treatment with tiopronin in a case of cystinuria]. / Síndrome nefrótico y estado de anasarca, secundario al tratamiento con tiopronina en un caso de cistinuria.

OBJECTIVE: To describe a case of cystinuria treated with tiopronin that produced the nephrotic syndrome. METHODS/RESULTS: A case of nephrotic syndrome with ascites and heart failure in a patient who had received tiopronin for the treatment of cystinuria is presented. Cystinuria as a rare cause of kidney stones is analyzed. The clinical features, diagnosis and the side effects of treatment with tiopronin are discussed. The patient recovered after withdrawal of the drug. CONCLUSIONS: It must be emphasized that patients treated with tiopronin should be screened for proteinuria.