Evaluation of the efficacy and safety of endovascular management for transplant renal artery stenosis

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of endovascular intervention with angioplasty and stent placement in patients with transplant renal artery stenosis. METHODS: All patients diagnosed with transplant renal artery stenosis and graft dysfunction or resistant systemic hypertension who underwent endovascular treatment with stenting from February 2011 to April 2016 were included in this study. The primary endpoint was clinical success, and the secondary endpoints were technical success, complication rate and stent patency. RESULTS: Twenty-four patients with transplant renal artery stenosis underwent endovascular treatment, and three of them required reinterventions, resulting in a total of 27 procedures. The clinical success rate was 100%. All graft dysfunction patients showed decreased serum creatinine levels and improved estimated glomerular filtration rates and creatinine levels. Patients with high blood pressure also showed improved control of systemic blood pressure and decreased use of antihypertensive drugs. The technical success rate of the procedure was 97%. Primary patency and assisted primary patency rates at one year were 90.5% and 100%, respectively. The mean follow-up time of patients was 794.04 days after angioplasty. CONCLUSION: Angioplasty with stent placement for the treatment of transplant renal artery stenosis is a safe and effective technique with good results in both the short and long term

Evaluation of the efficacy and safety of endovascular management for transplant renal artery stenosis

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of endovascular intervention with angioplasty and stent placement in patients with transplant renal artery stenosis. METHODS: All patients diagnosed with transplant renal artery stenosis and graft dysfunction or resistant systemic hypertension who underwent endovascular treatment with stenting from February 2011 to April 2016 were included in this study. The primary endpoint was clinical success, and the secondary endpoints were technical success, complication rate and stent patency. RESULTS: Twenty-four patients with transplant renal artery stenosis underwent endovascular treatment, and three of them required reinterventions, resulting in a total of 27 procedures. The clinical success rate was 100%. All graft dysfunction patients showed decreased serum creatinine levels and improved estimated glomerular filtration rates and creatinine levels. Patients with high blood pressure also showed improved control of systemic blood pressure and decreased use of antihypertensive drugs. The technical success rate of the procedure was 97%. Primary patency and assisted primary patency rates at one year were 90.5% and 100%, respectively. The mean follow-up time of patients was 794.04 days after angioplasty. CONCLUSION: Angioplasty with stent placement for the treatment of transplant renal artery stenosis is a safe and effective technique with good results in both the short and long term

Candida bloodstream infections in intensive care units: analysis of the extended prevalence of infection in intensive care unit study

Item does not contain fulltextOBJECTIVES: To provide a global, up-to-date picture of the prevalence, treatment, and outcomes of Candida bloodstream infections in intensive care unit patients and compare Candida with bacterial bloodstream infection. DESIGN: A retrospective analysis of the Extended Prevalence of Infection in the ICU Study (EPIC II). Demographic, physiological, infection-related and therapeutic data were collected. Patients were grouped as having Candida, Gram-positive, Gram-negative, and combined Candida/bacterial bloodstream infection. Outcome data were assessed at intensive care unit and hospital discharge. SETTING: EPIC II included 1265 intensive care units in 76 countries. PATIENTS: Patients in participating intensive care units on study day. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENT AND MAIN RESULTS: Of the 14,414 patients in EPIC II, 99 patients had Candida bloodstream infections for a prevalence of 6.9 per 1000 patients. Sixty-one patients had candidemia alone and 38 patients had combined bloodstream infections. Candida albicans (n = 70) was the predominant species. Primary therapy included monotherapy with fluconazole (n = 39), caspofungin (n = 16), and a polyene-based product (n = 12). Combination therapy was infrequently used (n = 10). Compared with patients with Gram-positive (n = 420) and Gram-negative (n = 264) bloodstream infections, patients with candidemia were more likely to have solid tumors (p < .05) and appeared to have been in an intensive care unit longer (14 days [range, 5-25 days], 8 days [range, 3-20 days], and 10 days [range, 2-23 days], respectively), but this difference was not statistically significant. Severity of illness and organ dysfunction scores were similar between groups. Patients with Candida bloodstream infections, compared with patients with Gram-positive and Gram-negative bloodstream infections, had the greatest crude intensive care unit mortality rates (42.6%, 25.3%, and 29.1%, respectively) and longer intensive care unit lengths of stay (median [interquartile range]) (33 days [18-44], 20 days [9-43], and 21 days [8-46], respectively); however, these differences were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Candidemia remains a significant problem in intensive care units patients. In the EPIC II population, Candida albicans was the most common organism and fluconazole remained the predominant antifungal agent used. Candida bloodstream infections are associated with high intensive care unit and hospital mortality rates and resource use

Clinical and genetic characteristics of late-onset Huntington's disease

Background: The frequency of late-onset Huntington's disease (&gt;59 years) is assumed to be low and the clinical course milder. However, previous literature on late-onset disease is scarce and inconclusive. Objective: Our aim is to study clinical characteristics of late-onset compared to common-onset HD patients in a large cohort of HD patients from the Registry database. Methods: Participants with late- and common-onset (30–50 years)were compared for first clinical symptoms, disease progression, CAG repeat size and family history. Participants with a missing CAG repeat size, a repeat size of ≤35 or a UHDRS motor score of ≤5 were excluded. Results: Of 6007 eligible participants, 687 had late-onset (11.4%) and 3216 (53.5%) common-onset HD. Late-onset (n = 577) had significantly more gait and balance problems as first symptom compared to common-onset (n = 2408) (P &lt;.001). Overall motor and cognitive performance (P &lt;.001) were worse, however only disease motor progression was slower (coefficient, −0.58; SE 0.16; P &lt;.001) compared to the common-onset group. Repeat size was significantly lower in the late-onset (n = 40.8; SD 1.6) compared to common-onset (n = 44.4; SD 2.8) (P &lt;.001). Fewer late-onset patients (n = 451) had a positive family history compared to common-onset (n = 2940) (P &lt;.001). Conclusions: Late-onset patients present more frequently with gait and balance problems as first symptom, and disease progression is not milder compared to common-onset HD patients apart from motor progression. The family history is likely to be negative, which might make diagnosing HD more difficult in this population. However, the balance and gait problems might be helpful in diagnosing HD in elderly patients