Involvement of interleukin-8 in dialysis-related arthritis

Involvement of interleukin-8 in dialysis-related arthritis. To elucidate the role of interleukin (IL)-8, a chemotactic factor for neutrophils, in dialysis-related arthritis (DRA) of patients on long-term hemodialysis, the concentration of IL-8 was measured in the synovial fluids of DRA patients with acute arthralgia and joint swelling, and was compared with those in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and patients with osteoarthritis (OA). We noted a marked elevation of IL-8 in the joint fluids of patients with DRA and RA as compared with OA. Furthermore, to determine the role of IL-8 in synovitis, we examined the in vivo effect of intra-articular injection of human recombinant IL-8 on leukocyte infiltration into the joint space of rabbits. A single injection of IL-8 to the joints of rabbits induced rapid infiltration of neutrophils into the joint space and synovial tissues, which reached a maximum in four hours. The oral administration of indometacin farnesil (a prodrug that is converted to indomethacin after intestinal absorption) before the injection of IL-8 alleviated the infiltration of neutrophils. When human synovial cells were incubated with tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, the expression of IL-8 mRNA and IL-8 production in the cultured synovial cells were increased. The TNF-α-stimulated expression of IL-8 mRNA and IL-8 production in the cultured synovial cells were markedly inhibited by dexamethasone. In conclusion, IL-8 levels were markedly elevated in the joint fluids of patients with DRA. Interleukin-8 released from synovial cells may be an important factor to induce acute inflammation in DRA. Dexamethasone and indomethacin may be effective for DRA by inhibiting the production and chemotactic actions of IL-8, respectively

Withdrawal from Dialysis and Palliative Care for Severely Ill Dialysis Patients in terms of Patient-Centered Medicine

Copyright © 2013 Hideaki Ishikawa et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. We treated a dementia patient with end stage chronic kidney disease (CKD). The patient also had severe chronic heart disease and suffered from untreatable respiratory distress during the clinical course of his illness. We therefore initiated peritoneal dialysis therapy (PD) as renal replacement therapy, although we had difficulties continuing stable PD for many reasons, including a burden on caregivers and complications associated with PD therapy itself. Under these circumstances we considered that palliative care prior to intensive caremayhave been an optional treatment.Thiswas a distressing decision regarding end-of-life care for this patient. We were unable to confirm the patient’s preference for end-of-life care due to his dementia. Following sufficiently informed consent the patient’s family accepted withdrawal from dialysis (WD). We simultaneously initiated nonabandonment and continuation of careful follow-up including palliative care. We concluded that the end-of-life care we provided would contribute to a peaceful and dignified death of the patient. Although intensive care based on assessment of disease is important, there is a limitation to care, and therefore we consider thatWD and palliative care are acceptable options for care of our patients in the terminal phase of their lives. 1