Renal transplant in a lupus nephritis patient with β-thalassemia trait

Progression of proliferative lupus nephritis to end-stage renal disease is common. Anemia in chronic kidney disease has multifactorial etiology, but it is rarely associated with β- Thalassemia trait. Iron deficiency is common in hemodialysis patients due to increased blood loss. Microcytic hypochromic anemia may be due to iron deficiency, hemoglobinopathies and aluminum toxicity. Because chronic kidney disease is a chronic inflammatory state, it is difficult to exclude iron deficiency with classical biochemical markers. Treatment of anemia in chronic kidney disease is important as iron therapy may cause iron overload, increased susceptibility to infection, atherosclerosis and increased oxidative stress. Multiple blood transfusions may cause iron overload, risk of infection transmission and alloimmunization. Alloimmunization decreases donor pool and increases chances of rejection

Living kidney donor with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance: Is it a contraindication for kidney donation?

Kidney transplantation is the treatment of choice for patients suffering from end-stage renal disease. We report a case of living kidney transplantation in which the donor had monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, a condition having possible implication for both donor and recipient. Both donor and recipient had an uneventful course in short-term follow-up of 1 year following kidney transplantation

Leukocyte esterase reagent strip as a bedside tool to detect peritonitis in patients undergoing acute peritoneal dialysis

Peritonitis is a common and life-threatening complication of acute peritoneal dialysis (PD). Diagnosis requires the presence of clinical signs of peritonitis which are nonspecific and laboratory investigations [total leukocyte count (TLC), Gram-stain, and culture of PD effluent fluid] which are time-consuming and not available at the bedside. In this study, we evaluated the use of leukocyte esterase reagent strip (LERS) as a bedside test to diagnose peritonitis in patients undergoing acute PD. Patients who underwent acute PD were monitored for signs and symptoms of peritonitis. PD effluent fluid analysis included TLC, absolute neutrophil count, Gram-stain, and culture for the diagnosis of peritonitis. LERS (Multistix 10SG) was simultaneously dipped in PD effluent fluid and read at two minutes. Reading of + was considered as indicative of peritonitis. Twenty-one out of 166 (12.6%) patients undergoing acute PD developed peritonitis. LERS detected peritonitis in 20 patients. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value (NPV) of LERS were 95.2%, 95.2%, 74.1%, and 99.3%, respectively. LERS has very high sensitivity and NPV and can be used as a rapid bedside tool to exclude peritonitis in patients undergoing acute PD

Profile of glomerular diseases associated with hepatitis B and C: A single-center experience from India

Hepatitis B and C are known to affect kidneys in a number of ways. Glomerular diseases associated with hepatitis B and C include membranous nephropathy (MN), membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN), focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, immunoglobulin A nephropathy, rarely amyloidosis, and fibrillary and immunotactoid glomerulopathy. In a retrospective analysis of kidney biopsy of 534 patients, we found 16 (2.9%) patients of hepatitis B and 11 (2.05%) patients of hepatitis C with glomerular disease. The most common form of glomerulonephritis in hepatitis B patient was MN and in hepatitis C patient was MPGN

A randomized trial of iron isomaltoside 1000 versus oral iron in non-dialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease patients with anaemia

BACKGROUND: Iron deficiency anaemia is common in patients with non-dialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease (NDD-CKD) and is often treated with oral or intravenous (IV) iron therapy. This trial compared the efficacy and safety of IV iron isomaltoside 1000 (Monofer®) and oral iron in NDD-CKD patients with renal-related anaemia. METHODS: The trial was a Phase III open-label, comparative, multicentre, non-inferiority trial conducted in 351 iron-deficient NDD-CKD patients, randomized 2:1 to either iron isomaltoside 1000 (Group A) or iron sulphate administered as 100 mg elemental oral iron twice daily (200 mg daily) for 8 weeks (Group B). The patients in Group A were randomized into A1 (infusion of max. 1000 mg single doses over 15 min) and A2 (bolus injections of 500 mg over 2 min). A modified Ganzoni formula was used to calculate IV iron need. The primary end point was change in haemoglobin concentrations from baseline to Week 4. RESULTS: Iron isomaltoside 1000 was both non-inferior to oral iron at Week 4 (P < 0.001) and sustained a superior increase in haemoglobin from Week 3 until the end of the study at Week 8 (P = 0.009 at Week 3). The haemoglobin response was more pronounced with iron isomaltoside 1000 doses ≥1000 mg (P < 0.05). Serum-ferritin and transferrin saturation concentrations were also significantly increased with IV iron. Adverse drug reactions were observed in 10.5% in the iron isomaltoside 1000 group and 10.3% in the oral iron group. More patients treated with oral iron sulphate withdrew from the study due to adverse events (4.3 versus 0.9%, P = 0.2). CONCLUSIONS: Iron isomaltoside 1000 was more efficacious than oral iron for increase in haemoglobin and proved to be well tolerated at the tested dose levels in NDD-CKD patients

A leap toward brighter future – deceased-donor renal transplantation: Three years of experience in Sawai Man Singh Hospital, Jaipur, India

Background: With an increase in the prevalence of risk factors for chronic kidney disease, the prevalence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) is increasing in India, adding 1.75 lakh ESRD patients each year. Renal transplant is one of the best modalities of renal replacement therapy; however, it is available only in a few centers. Despite an increase in trend, deceased-donor renal transplant (DDRT) rate is only 0.34/million populations, one of the lowest rates in the world. Materials and Methods: We analyzed 25 DDRT recipients transplanted in the last 3 years. The patients were followed till death or graft loss whichever was earlier. Posttransplant outcome and complications were evaluated. Results: The patient survival was 84% (21/25), and death-censored graft survival was 84% (21/25). 16% (4/25) had the second renal transplant with a history of failed previous live renal transplant. Delayed graft function (DGF) and biopsy-proven acute rejection were seen in 16% and 12%, respectively. The mean posttransplant creatinine in recipients with functioning graft on the last follow-up was 1.14 ± 0.2 mg/dl. The most common medical complication was sepsis (40%, 10/25). Conclusion: The short-term outcome of DDRT in our center is comparable to other centers in India. DGF was the most important determinant of graft survival