Attitude of physicians towards the evaluation and treatment of the glomerulonephritis patients

To survey the attitude of the physicians in Saudi Arabia toward the evaluation and treatment of glomerulonephritis (GN) patients, a questionnaire was sent to the medical directors of 175 dialysis centers in the KSA. The study was performed from July to November 2010. A total of 171 (97.7%) medical directors of dialysis centers answered the questionnaire. There were 131 (77%) res-pondents who followed up hospitalized or out-patients with nephrological problems other than dialysis at their corresponding hospitals. Only 111 (65%) of the respondents attended general nephrology clinics. Furthermore, 115 (80%) respondents followed up GN patients at their corresponding hospitals, with an average of more than 6 patients/year reported by 70 (61%) respondents. The availability of the specific serologic tests, performance of kidney biopsies and a pathologist to read them were disclosed by 55 (32%), 50 (29%), and 46 (27%) respondents, respectively. There were 46 (27%) respondents who encountered very often minimal change disease in the patients they followed up in their corresponding hospitals, 26 (15%) encountered it sometimes, and 21 (12%) encountered the disease rarely, while 78 (46%) never encountered this disease. Similar patterns were stated by the respondents for the rest of the primary and secondary GN; IgAN was the least encountered among the other types of GN. For the steroids and immunosuppressive agents use in the treatment of GN, the respondents were close in frequency to the current practice for the different types of this disease. There were 52 (30%) respondents who believed that the current protocols for treatment of GN are satisfactory, with a minimal room for improvement, while 74 (43%) had no idea about this issue. Moreover, there were only 44-49 (26-29%) respondents who answered the questions about the use of rituximab in the different types of GN and believed that the indications of it could cover most GN with variable degrees; the most popular use of rituximab in GN included MGN and lupus nephritis. We conclude that the set-up for the evaluation and treatment of GN patients is restricted in Saudi Arabia. The expo-sure and expertise in treatment of the GN is limited and needs better addressing through more availability of nephrologists and performance of kidney biopsies. The quest for innovative effective therapy, such as rituximab, to prevent progression of CKD secondary to GN is still warranted

Trends of elevated parathormone serum titers in hemodialysis patients on intensive therapy for bone disease: A multicenter study

To determine the prevalence of controlled parathyroid hormone (PTH) serum levels with intensified therapy for chronic kidney disease mineral and bone disorder (CKD-MBD) in the dialysis population, we studied 563 chronic hemodialysis patients recruited from three different dialysis centers from three different major cities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The trend of the routine monthly chemistries related to CKD-MBD was evaluated besides the whole-molecule PTH serum levels over 28 months (January 2011 to April 2013). The cost ratios of the medications to the estimated dialysis total cost were calculated. There were 323 (57.4%) males in the study, and the mean age of the patients was 50.2 ± 15.2 years; 371 (65.9%) patients were initiated on dialysis before 2011. The causes of the original kidney disease included diabetes mellitus in 163 (29%) patients. Parathyroidectomy was performed in 23 (4.1%) patients and only six (23%) patients underwent the operation during the study period; most of the parathyroidectomies (69%) were performed before 2011. The trend of the medians of monthly serum levels of calcium, phosphorus, albumin, bicarbonate, alkaline phosphatase, serum levels of PTH and vitamin D25 assays showed better control of the levels with time. The added cost of cinacalcet was more significant than the other drugs, including vitamin D and phosphate binders, but the cost was minimal in comparison with the whole dialysis bill. The ratios of the discontinuation rates to the total patient-months of treatment for the different drugs were in the range of 3-4% and mostly due to transient overdosing of medications. We conclude that the trends of the median serum levels of PTH and related minerals in the CKD patients in our dialysis patients suggested a good inclination toward control and prevention of the vascular calcifications prevalent in the CKD-MBD. The popularity of use of new drugs such as cinacalcet is promising and does not seem to add much to the current out-patient cost of chronic dialysis

Prevalence of anemia in predialysis chronic kidney disease patients

To evaluate the prevalence of anemia in a large cohort that comprises patients in different stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), we conducted a multi-center cross-sectional study of a cohort of CKD patients who have not started dialysis. The study patients were recruited from the nephrology clinics in 11 different medical centers distributed all over the regions of the KSA. For the estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR), we used the Chronic Kidney Disease-Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) equation. There were 250 study patients who fulfilled the criteria for the study. The patients were stratified according to their GFR as follows: stage 1: 19 patients, stage 2: 35 patients, stage 3: 67 patients, stage 4: 68 patients, and stage 5: 61 patients. The composite of proteinuria and abnormal imaging in stages 1 and 2 was satisfied in 100% of the cases. The prevalence of anemia was elevated for the hemoglobin levels below 12 g/dL (the level at which the evaluation of anemia in CKD should be initiated) in the different stages of CKD, that is, 42%, 33%, 48%, 71%, and 82% in the stages from 1 to 5, respectively. The prevalence was also elevated for the hemoglobin levels below 11 g/dL (the minimum hemoglobin level at which therapy should be initiated with erythropoietin), that is, 21%, 17%, 31%, 49%, and 72%, respectively for stages from 1 to 5. In conclusion, we found a large prevalence of anemia among the CKD population in Saudi Arabia, and the burden of patients who require treatment with erythropoietin is considerably large. However, the response to therapy will not require large doses according to the availability of long-acting erythropoiesis stimulating agents, which will render the therapy more convenient and less expensive

Rituximab as a rescue therapy in patients with glomerulonephritis

To evaluate the use of rituximab in the treatment of severe glomerulonephritis (GN) in order to prevent progression of kidney disease toward the end stage, we designed a multicenter, retrospective study in Saudi Arabia about the efficacy and safety of the use of "off label" rituximab in a variety of severe refractory GN to conventional treatment and the progression of kidney disease for at least one year of follow-up. All the patients had kidney biopsies before treatment with rituximab, and proteinuria and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) were followed-up for the period of the study. The immediate side-effect at the time of administration of rituximab included itching in three patients, hypotension in one patient and anaphylaxis in one patient (dropped out from the study). After the administration of rituximab in 42 patients and during the first six months of therapy, 16 (38%) patients had complete remission (CR), 13 (31%) patients had partial remission (PR) and 13 (31%) patients had no remission. The mean follow-up period for the patients was 19.0 ± 6.97 months (median 18.0 months). The long-term follow-up during the study period disclosed a good hospitalization record for almost all of the patients. Membranous GN (MGN) was the largest group in the cohort (58% of the patients), and we observed CR and PR in 40% and 28% of them, respectively, which was comparable with the previous experience with rituximab in MGN patients with more CR than PR in our cohort. We conclude that our study suggests the safety and efficacy of the use of rituximab in patients with refractory GN and that larger and long-term prospective studies are required to define the role of rituximab in the different categories of these diseases