METHODS: Prospective follow-up of 25 patients who presented to a tertiary institution with recurrent AV access thrombosis and treated with anticoagulation according to SEP following successful thrombectomy. Patency and safety outcomes of SEP were studied.
RESULTS: The participants were 66.4 ± 10.2 years old and predominantly male (60%) and of Chinese ethnicity (72%). The AV accesses had a median age of 1.4 (0.6, 5.6) years with 60% being non-autogenous arteriovenous access while 40% were autogenous arteriovenous access. Thrombolytic agents (urokinase (72%) or alteplase (28%)) were used in all procedures while adjunct thrombectomy device was used in only four procedures. The mean dose of enoxaparin was 36.0 ± 8.2 mg or 0.64 ± 0.1 mg/kg/day for a mean duration 30.0 days (Interquartile range: 27.5, 31.0). One patient developed minor bleeding episode. Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that the mean thrombosis-free survival pre- versus post-SEP adoption was 27.3 (95% CI 17.9-36.7) versus 183.5 (95% CI 100.1-266.9) days (p
METHOD: A multicenter, prospective, randomized, parallel-design, open label interventional study to estimate the effectiveness of zolpidem (10 mg) oral tablets versus acupressure on sleep quality and quality of life in patients with CKD-aP on hemodialysis. A total of 58 hemodialysis patients having sleep disturbance due to CKD-aP completed the entire 8-week follow-up. The patients were divided into a control (acupressure) group of 28 patients and an intervention (zolpidem) group of 30 patients.
RESULTS: A total of 58 patients having CKD-aP and sleep disturbance were recruited. In the control group there was a reduction in the PSQI score with a mean ± SD from 12.28 ± 3.59 to 9.25 ± 3.99, while in the intervention group the reduction in PSQI score with a mean ± SD was from 14.73 ± 4.14 to 10.03 ± 4.04 from baseline to endpoint. However, the EQ5D index score and EQ-visual analogue scale (VAS) at baseline for the control group with a mean ± SD was 0.49 ± 0.30 and 50.17 ± 8.65, respectively, while for the intervention group the values were 0.62 ± 0.26 and 47.17 ± 5.82, respectively. The mean EQ5D index score in the control group improved from 0.49 ± 0.30 to 0.53 ± 0.30, but in the intervention group there was no statistical improvement in mean EQ5D index score from 0.62 ± 0.26 to 0.62 ± 0.27 from baseline to week 8. The EQ 5D improved in both groups and the EQ-VAS score was 2.67 points higher at week 8 as compared to baseline in the control group, while in the intervention group the score was 3.33 points higher at week 8 as compared to baseline. Comparing with baseline, the PSQI scores were significantly reduced after week 4 and week 8 (P =