In establishing a chronic haemodialysis unit in Brunei the difficulties encountered were less insuperable than had been expected. Quite unsophisticated patients successfully dialysed unattended in some cases, or with minimal supervision in others.
Bilateral renal calculi were present in 114 (10.7%) of 1,070 cases of proved urinary calculus admitted to the Urological Department of the General Hospital, Kuala Lumpur, during the period November 1968-May 1973. The management of bilateral renal calculi is discussed with reference to the first 100 cases in this series. The introduction of renography has greatly facilitated the decision as to which kidney should be operated on first. The management of patients with and without uraemia is discussed and the use of the modified V and V-Y incisions for the removal of staghorn calculi is described. Complications and results are briefly reviewed.
One hundred and ninety hepatitis B surface antigen positive (HBsAG+) sera were subtyped, belonging to : blood donors, hepatitis patients, patients and staff in a hemodialysis unit, all from Kuala Lumpur; Malaysian aborigines from three jungle locations in Peninsular Malaysia; and East Malaysians from Sarawak, East Malaysia; Three subtypes adr, adw and ayw were present in Malaysia in the following frequencies: 44%, 29%, and 27%, respectively; In Kuala Lumpur 87% had subdeterminant d and 13 per cent y, whereas in the deep jungle aborigines of Perak and Pahang, the y subdeterminant was present in 87% and the d in 13%. A similar pattern of preponderance of y prevailed in Sarawak, East Malaysia. In Kuala Lumpur the two main ethnic groups, Malays and Chinese, differed in subtype distribution, in that adr predominated in the Malays (61%), while the adw predominated in the Chinese (51%); Subtype distribution was not related to age or sex of carriers of the antigen, or to whether they had hepatitis, or asymptomatic antigenemia.
Over a five year period, 184 patients were treated for acute renal failure. Uraemia was usually treated by peritoneal dialysis, and haemodialysis was reserved for post surgical and hypercatabolic patients. The overall mortality was 33.2% and was highest among surgical patients. These results were similar to previous reports. Peritoneal dialysis was usually effective in controlling uraemia. Uncontrolled sepsis remains a major problem, and septicaemia and gastrointestinal bleeding were adverse factors affecting the outcome. The combination of septicaemia and gastrointestinal bleeding commonly led to a fatal outcome.
A survey to assess the degree of occupational and physical rehabilitation was conducted on patients treated on chronic haemodialysis, using the semiquantitative Karnovsky scale. The survey revealed that over 90% of patients achieved good rehabilitation and returned to employment or to household duties. Chronic haemodialysis is effective in prolonging life and most patients were rehabilitated with useful levels of physical activity.
Review of the haemodialysis experience revealed patient survival between 1976 and 1982 to be 90%, 77% and 44% at one, three and six years respectively. This was similar to other published reports. Patients under the age of 50 years did better than those above 50 years, and diabetics did worst of all. There was a high rate of rehabilitation and return to employment or household responsibilities. Our policy of self-care dialysis allowed more patients to be treated without increasing the number of staff Dialysis encephalopathy and sudden deaths were important causes of death.
The clinical syndrome of dialysis encephalopathy which has been observed all over the world has also been seen here. The clinical syndrome and clinical course are reported; it has been associated with high levels of aluminium in untreated water used for haemodialysis. Since the introduction of water treatment, this disease has not been observed.
Skeletal radiographs of 122 patients treated by maintenance haemodialysis were reviewed retrospectively for bone disease. Significant radiological bone changes were very low at commencement of dialysis (2- 9%), as well as at six months of dialysis (6.1%). This figure rose to 19.7% when the total period of dialysis was considered. In the latter group, fractures occurred in seven patients (5.7%), erosions in 12 patients (9.8%), vascular calcification in 13 patients (10.7%) and osteosclerosis in eight patients (6.6%). Osteoporosis was noted to be very common (76.2%). Significant bone changes are hence rare in maintenance haemodialysis patients in Malaysia.
180 patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on maintenance dialysis and those who had undergone renal transplantation were questioned retrospectively. 14 patients had consumed excessive quantities of analgesics (greater than 1 kg) prior to the institution of long-term dialysis or transplantation. Sonographic examination done on these patients indicated that 7 had renal papillary necrosis (RPN). The sonographic features were renal papillary calcifications surrounding the central sinus in a complete or incomplete garland pattern. In 5 of these patients RPN is attibutable to the excessive consumption of paracetamol. We have earlier reported 10 cases of RPN due to excessive consumption of paracetamol. Thus 15 cases of RPN attributable to paracetamol consumption (1.0-15.3 kg over a period ranging from 3 to 23 years) have been documented. It is concluded that paracetamol may assume an increasingly important role in the causation of analgesic nephropathy (AN) and ESRD.
We report two patients who had cerebral malaria, heavy parasitemia, hyperbilirubinemia, hypercatabolism with rapid rises of blood urea and serum creatinine and acute renal failure. There was no evidence of intravascular hemolysis. Renal biopsy was consistent with acute tubular necrosis. Both patients responded to treatment with intravenous quinine and dialysis.
Anti-HCV antibody was detected in 1.9% of the blood donors in University Hospital. Among the risk groups, 33.3% of the patients with post-transfusion hepatitis were tested positive for anti-HCV antibody. The anti-HCV antibody was detected in 30% of the IDU. Haemodialysis patients, patients with acute and chronic hepatitis and patients with liver cirrhosis appeared to have increased risk of Hepatitis C virus infection. The results indicate that the frequency of HCV infection increases with the exposure to blood or blood products.
A retrospective review of 246 patients with established acute renal failure (ARF) needing dialysis from 1990-1994 is reported from Hospital Sultanah Aminah, Johor Bahru. Peritoneal dialysis was more commonly used than haemodialysis or haemofiltration. Patients on mechanical ventilation in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) who were hypercatabolic and fluid overloaded were treated with haemofiltration. Males outnumbered females by a ratio of 1.5:1. The majority were Malays (61.4%). Most patients were from the district of Johor Bahru, but 41.5% were from other districts in the Johor state. The mean age was 47.1 years (SD 18.2). The ARF was caused by acute tubular necrosis in 55.3%, post-renal obstruction in 22.8%, nephrotoxins in 5.7% and other causes in 16.2%. The proportions of patients referred from the medical, surgical and obstetric and gynaecology units were 50.8%, 45.5% and 3.7% respectively. The mortality rate was 48%. Patients with established ARF should be dialysed early as they tolerate uraemia poorly. Prevention is by prompt treatment of patients with sepsis, avoidance of hypovolaemia and nephrotoxic drugs.
Quality of life outcome (QOL) on dialysis is important. We determined the measurement properties of Spitzer's QL-index, a QOL measure, in our patients on chronic haemodialysis. The QL-index measures 5 dimensions of QOL (activity, daily activities, general health, social support and psychological outlook). 59 haemodialysis (HD) patients from 2 centres were rated by 5 raters. Inter-rater agreement for the total score was good with a mean intra-class correlation coefficient 0.66 (range 0.47-0.81). That for dimension scores however was poor (weighted kappa range 0.07-1). Systematic differences between raters were also observed. Intra-rater agreement was generally better than inter-rater agreement. Significant gradients in scores were observed by age, serum albumin, comorbid disorders, previous hospitalisation, capacity for self care HD and rehabilitation status thus providing evidence for construct validity. The distribution of total scores was skewed indicating poor discriminatory ability. Nevertheless, QL-index has acceptable measurement properties for application in dialysis patients.
We determine the cost effectiveness of centre and home haemodialysis (HD), continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) and intermittent peritoneal dialysis (IPD) treatment in the Ministry of Health (MOH) programme. The viewpoint taken for this evaluation is that of MOH. Cost categories identified were capital cost, dialysis operational cost, medical cost and general hospital cost. Cost estimates were mostly based on actual resource utilisation. Life years saved were estimated based on Dialysis Registry data on 2480 HD and 732 CAPD patients. Overall, the cost-effectiveness ratio (CER) of centre HD was RM21620/life year saved. Those of home HD, CAPD and IPD were RM23375, RM30469 and RM36016 respectively. Sensitivity analyses did not change the ranking of the CER. We conclude the MOH dialysis programme was cost-effective, and among the various dialysis modalities centre HD was the most cost-effective.
We describe the outcomes on haemodialysis (HD) and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) provided by the Ministry of Health (MOH). The assessment was based on data from the Malaysian Dialysis Registry on 2480 HD and 732 CAPD patients who commenced dialysis between 1980 and 1996. Young patients (age < 40) have remarkable long term survival (life expectancies of 16 years on HD, 18 years on CAPD). Adjusting for background mortality, relative survival of older patients was as good as younger ones. Diabetics did poorly. 52% of HD and 26% of CAPD patients were employed in 1996. 71% of HD patients scored 10(normal) on QL index (a measure of quality of life) while 60% of CAPD patients have similar score. Differences in rehabilitation and QL index scores by age, gender and diabetes were also observed. Outcomes of dialysis in the MOH programme are reassuring.
We determined the provision for dialysis treatment in Malaysia. There were 181 dialysis centres as at 1st June 1999 (161 Haemodialysis (HD) and 20 Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis (CAPD) centres), providing treatment for 5614 patients. This is equivalent to an estimated prevalence rate of 253 patients per million population (pmp) and new dialysis acceptance rate of 49 patients pmp. Dialysis facilities were widely distributed throughout the country though rather unevenly among states. Penang, Selangor/KL, Malacca led with number of dialysis patients pmp ranging from 417 to 480. Kelantan and Sabah had the lowest provision with 51 and 64 patients pmp respectively. There were more centres and HD capacity in the private sector while the Non-Government Organisation and public sectors had about the same capacity. However the public sector had more patients on account of availability of CAPD and home HD services, as well as low HD capacity to patient ratio. The number ofcentres, HD capacity and patients have increased rapidly especially since 1991; the estimated growth rates were 16.5 centres/year, 658 capacity/year, and 392 patients/year respectively. There was also a trend toward increasing over-capacity in the private and NGO sectors. In conclusion, the level of dialysis provision is increasing, indicating increasing accessibility of dialysis treatment in Malaysia. Over-capacity is a concern in the private and NGO sectors. Thus funding agencies should be encouraged to source provision from those sectors. The public sector still has the crucial role of providing for under-served areas in the country.
Sixty-five patients with "Snuffbox" arteriovenous fistulae for hemodialysis were reviewed. The procedure was performed under local anaesthesia as an outpatient procedure. It was done as a "standby" procedure for 41.5% of patients with Chronic Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis. 58.5% of patients had the procedure done for primary hemodialysis. Patency was assessed as presence of an engorged vein and presence of thrill. This was assessed routinely at 4 to 6 weeks after the procedure. Patency rate was noted to be 83%. The commonest complication was thrombosis of the arteriovenous anastomosis. Some patients required repeated procedure at a more proximal site. Further study to determine the blood flow rate provided by the anastomosis, and comparison with other anatomical sites is necessary.