DESIGN AND METHODS: This was a 12-week, multicenter, prospective observational study. The study setting included three HD centers. Adult Muslim patients, who were undergoing HD session thrice weekly and planned to fast during Ramadan, were screened for eligibility and recruited. Nutritional and functional status assessments were carried out 2 weeks before (V0), at the fourth week of Ramadan (V1), and 4 weeks after Ramadan (V2). Nutritional status parameters included anthropometry (body mass index, interdialytic weight gain, waist circumference), body composition (mid-arm circumference, triceps skinfold, body fat percentage), blood biochemistry (albumin, renal profile, lipid profile, and inflammatory markers), blood pressure, dietary intake, and handgrip strength. Changes in nutritional and functional status parameters across study timepoints were analyzed using repeated-measures analysis of variance.
RESULTS: A total of 87 patients completed the study, with 68 patients (78.2%) reporting fasting ≥20 days. Ramadan fasting led to significant reductions (all P .05). Significant improvement was observed in serum phosphate levels, but serum albumin, urea, and creatinine were also reduced significantly during Ramadan (P
OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to determine the predictive value of parameters derived from MAG3 performed within 72 hours post transplant in detecting graft function. Delayed graft function (DGF), which is defined as dialysis requirement within the first week post transplant, is chosen as a surrogate measure of graft function.
METHODOLOGY: All renal transplant recipients who underwent MAG3 within 72 hours post transplant from 2017 to 2019 were enrolled. Three MAG3 parameters, renogram grade, tubular injury severity score, and R20:3, were evaluated.
RESULTS: A total of 117 patients were enrolled. The overall incidence of DGF was 16.2% with a significantly higher incidence amongst cadaveric graft recipients (53.6%) compared with living graft recipients (4.5%). Renogram grade ≥2, tubular injury severity score ≥4, and R20:3 > 1.31 significantly predicted DGF, P < .05 with high area under the curve for R20:3 of 0.97. Grafts with parameters above the cutoffs also showed significantly worse GFR at 1- and 3-months post-transplant. On multivariate analysis, prolonged cold ischemia time was associated with a higher risk of DGF, odds ratio 1.005 (95% confidence interval 1.003-1.007), P < .05.
CONCLUSION: Baseline MAG3 accurately depicts early graft function and was also predictive of GFR at 1- and 3- months post-transplant. These baseline MAG3 scans could be particularly useful amongst deceased donor graft recipients owing to the higher risk of poor graft function.
METHODS: A 17-item questionnaire was developed to assess nutrition practices and administered to dialysis managers of 150 HD centers, identified through the National Renal Registry. Nutritional outcomes of 4362 patients enabled crosscutting comparisons as per dietitian accessibility and center sector.
RESULTS: Dedicated dietitian (18%) and visiting/shared dietitian (14.7%) service availability was limited, with greatest accessibility at government centers (82.4%) > non-governmental organization (NGO) centers (26.7%) > private centers (15.1%). Nutritional monitoring varied across HD centers as per albumin (100%) > normalized protein catabolic rate (32.7%) > body mass index (BMI, 30.7%) > dietary intake (6.0%). Both sector and dietitian accessibility was not associated with achieving albumin ≥40 g/L. However, NGO centers were 36% more likely (p = 0.030) to achieve pre-dialysis serum creatinine ≥884 μmol/L compared to government centers, whilst centers with dedicated dietitian service were 29% less likely (p = 0.017) to achieve pre-dialysis serum creatinine ≥884 μmol/L. In terms of BMI, private centers were 32% more likely (p = 0.022) to achieve BMI ≥ 25.0 kg/m2 compared to government centers. Private centers were 62% less likely (p
METHODS: A literature search was undertaken to identify biopsy registries for medical kidney diseases. These data were supplemented with information from personal contacts and from registry websites. A questionnaire was sent to all identified registries, investigating age of registries, scope, method of coding, possible mapping to international terminologies as well as self-reported problems and suggestions for improvement.
RESULTS: Sixteen regional or national kidney biopsy registries were identified, of which 11 were older than 10 years. Most registries were located either in Europe (10/16) or in Asia (4/16). Registries most often use a proprietary coding system (12/16). Only a few of these coding systems were mapped to SNOMED CT (1), older SNOMED versions (2) or ERA-EDTA PRD (3). Lack of maintenance and updates of the coding system was the most commonly reported problem.
CONCLUSIONS: There were large gaps in the global coverage of kidney biopsy registries. Limited use of international coding systems among existing registries hampers interoperability and exchange of data. The study underlines that the use of a common and uniform coding system is necessary to fully realize the potential of kidney biopsy registries.
METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study to assess the correlation between HCV Ag and HCV RNA and to identify the prevalence of active HCV infection among HCV seropositive HD patients from dialysis centres across West Malaysia from July 2019 to May 2020. Pre-dialysis blood was taken and tested for both HCV Ag and HCV RNA tests. HCV Ag was tested with Abbott ARCHITECT HCV Ag test.
RESULTS: We recruited 112 seropositive HD patients from 17 centres with mean age of 54.04 ± 11.62 years, HD vintage of 14.1 ± 9.7 years, and male constitute 59.8% (67) of the study population. HCV Ag correlates well with HCV RNA (Spearman test coefficient 0.833, p 3000 IU/mL, HCV Ag had a higher sensitivity of 95.1% and greater correlation (Spearman test coefficient 0.897, p