Childhood idiopathic steroid resistant nephrotic syndrome in Southwestern Nigeria

Clinical charts of 23 Nigerian children diagnosed with Idiopathic Steroid Resistant Nephrotic Syndrome (iSRNS) between January 2001 and December 2007 were retrospectively re-viewed to determine their clinicopathologic characteristics and outcome. iSRNS (54.8%) was pri-mary in 19 patients (83%) and secondary in four (17%). The mean age at diagnosis was 8.3 ± 3.5 years (2.1-13 years). Histopathology revealed membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) in 43.5%, focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) in 39.1% and mesangial proliferative glo-merulonephritis in 8.7% of the patients while minimal change disease (MCD) and membranous nephropathy accounted for 4.35% each. Routine treatment protocol comprised pulse intravenous (i.v.) cylophosphamide infusion and i.v. dexamethasone ΁ lisinopril or spironolactone. Cumulative Com-plete Remission (CR) rate was 57.12%. The overall median time to CR from start of steroid sparing agents in 12/21 treated patients was 4.5 weeks. CR was better achieved in MPGN than FSGS (P = 0.0186). Five patients had eight relapses with the overall median relapse-free duration being four months. Cumulative renal survival at 36 months was 41.8%. The median follow-up duration was eight months. Our study revealed that there was a high prevalence of iSRNS and preponderance of non-MCD lesions, with MPGN and FSGS being the major morphologic lesions. The outcome with steroid and cyclophosphamide-based treatment for iSRNS was further enhanced with addition of either lisinopril or spironolactone

Hospital-acquired acute kidney injury in critically ill children and adolescents

This study determined the (1) hospital incidence, prevalence and etiology; (2) frequency of each of the acute kidney injury (AKI) stages and (3) the 60-day outcome. Retrospective analysis of clinico-laboratory data of Nigerian children/adolescents with hospital-acquired acute kidney injury (hAKI) was performed. AKI occurred in 103 (3.13%) of 3,286 childhood and adolescent admissions. Twenty-eight (27.2%) were hAKI while 72.8% were community-acquired AKI (cAKI). Annual hAKI incidence and prevalence rates were 0.17% (or 3.7 per million children population [pmcp] / year) and 0.84% (or 18.3 pmcp), respectively. Male (20):female (8) ratio was 2.5:1. In the hAKI group, median age was 5 (0.063-15.0) years. AKI stages 1, 2 and 3 accounted for 14.3%, 25.0% and 60.7%, respectively. AKI stage 3 was most anuric, with high dialysis requirement (P = 0.0329). Nephrotoxics (42.87%) were a leading cause of hAKI. Seventy-five percent of the recorded deaths were in the first 28 hAKI days. Median survival time was 23.5 admission (11-52) days. The means values of maximum serum creatinine (Scr) for survivors (486.0 ± 382.0 μmol/L or 5.5 ± 4.3 mg/dL) and for non-survivors (353.0 ± 160.0 μmol/L or 4.0 ± 1.8 mg/dL) were similar (P > 0.20). The 60-day cumulative mortality was 36.7%. Scr severity may not be a reliable mortality determinant among AKI patients. The maximal mortality in the first 28 days of hAKI onset and overall high mortality rate indicate that high level of clinical vigilance and informed therapeutic intervention will be critical to survival during this period. Cause of death was multi-factorial

Early experience with laparoscopic surgery in children in Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Background: Laparoscopy is not yet routinely employed in many Paediatric Surgical Units in Nigeria despite the advantages it offers. This study describes the preliminary experience with laparoscopic procedures in a single centre. Patients and Methods: A retrospective analysis of all children who had laparoscopic surgery between January 2009 and December 2013 at the Paediatric Surgical Unit of Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex Ile-Ife was carried out. Their sociodemographic, preoperative and intraoperative data along with postoperative records were subjected to descriptive analysis. Results: Eleven (44%) diagnostic and 14 (56%) therapeutic procedures were performed on 25 children whose age ranged from 5 months to 15 years (Median: 84 months, Mean: 103 ± 64.1 months), including eight (32%) females and 17 (68%) males. Indications included acute appendicitis in 12 (48%), intra-abdominal masses in six (24%), three (12%) disorders of sexual differentiation, two (8%) ventriculoperitoneal shunt malfunctions and impalpable undescended testes in two (8%) children. The procedures lasted 15-90 minutes (Mean = 54 (±21.6) minutes). Conversion rate was 17% for two patients who had ruptured retrocaecal appendices. No intra operative complications were recorded while three (12%) patients had superficial port site infections post-operatively. All diagnostic (11) and two therapeutic procedures were done as day case surgery. The mean duration of hospital stay was 3.1 (±3.3) days for those who had appendectomies. Conclusion: Laparoscopic surgery in children is safe and feasible in our hospital. We advocate increased use of laparoscopy in paediatric surgical practice in Nigeria and similar developing settings

Prolonged febrile illness due to CTX-M-15 extendedspectrum β-lactamase-producing <i>Klebsiella pneumoniae</i> infection in Nigeria

We report on an 8-year-old patient with septicaemia unresponsive to therapy for five weeks. Undetected, extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) production by the infecting Klebsiella strain was regarded as responsible for treatment failure. Intravenously administered imipenem during the sixth week led to sustained resolution of fever. Resource-limited hospitals can incur prohibitive costs from ESBL-producer infections because of diagnostic limitations and consequent treatment failure involving prolonged supportive therapy