Background and Aims An arteriovenous fistula (AVF) remains the best choice of vascular access (VA... more Background and Aims An arteriovenous fistula (AVF) remains the best choice of vascular access (VA) for hemodialysis (HD). The aim of our study was determination of factors associated with achieved adequate blood flow (BF) of AVF during 4-th week after creation Method : Created AVF in 63 patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage 4, 5 and 5-HD were analyzed in the prospective single center study, from January 2019 to October 2019. Preoperative mapping of blood vessels by Doppler ultrasound (DUS) on the forearm was performed in all patients. All patients were undergoing surgical creation of new forearm AVF (radio-cephalic) by one doctor. The DUS was used for measuring the diameter size of artery radialis, artery brachialis and vein cephalica before creation of AVF and again on 1-st day, 2-nd and 4-th week after AVF creation. In addition the BF of AVF was also measured by DUS on 1-st day, 2-nd and 4-th week after AVF creation. The adequate BF of AVF for hemodialysis treatment was defined as ≥ 600 ml/min. Patient gender and age, hemodialysis vintage, diameter size of artery radialis, artery brachialis and vein cephalica before creation of AVF were analyzed as factors that were affecting the achieved BF of AVF during 4-th week after creation. Results : The average age of patients was 61.31 ± 12.9 years. From all patients, 60.31% (38/63) were men. The adequate BF of AVF (≥600 ml/min) during 4-th week after creation was achieved in 43.54% (27/63) of created AVFs. The blood flow of AVF measured in male gender was significantly higher compared to the blood flow of AVF measured in female gender (576.03 ml/min vs 375.12 ml/min, p=0.004). The age of the patients and hemodialysis vintage were not significantly associated with achieved adequate BF of AVF during 4-th week after creation of AVF. The adequate BF of AVF was achieved in blood vessels with bigger diameter size. The diameter size of the blood vessels with achieved adequate BF was significantly higher compared to the diameter size of the blood vessels without adequate BF (artery radialis : 2.45 mm vs 2.03 mm, p=0.000; artery brachialis: 4.78 mm vs 4.06 mm, p=0.001 and vein cephalica: 3.12 mm vs 2.83 mm, p=0.018). Conclusion The gender and the diameter size of artery radialis, artery brachialis and vein cephalica before creation of AVF were significantly associated with achieved adequate BF of AVF (≥600 ml/min) during 4-th week after creation of AVF.
Peritoneal dialysis (PD) related peritonitis is usually caused by bacteria, but viruses and fungi... more Peritoneal dialysis (PD) related peritonitis is usually caused by bacteria, but viruses and fungi could also affect the peritoneal membrane and cause cloudy effluent with negative bacterial cultures. We present a case of a PD patient who survived fungal peritonitis caused by Geotrichum klebahnii (March 2015) and COVID-19 pneumonia (April 2021) with peritonitis probably caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The fungal peritonitis followed one episode of exit-site infection and two episodes of bacterial peritonitis treated with a wide-spectrum antibiotic. The patient’s PD catheter was removed immediately upon the diagnosis of fungal peritonitis, and an antifungal treatment was continued for 3 weeks after catheter removal. The new peritoneal catheter was reinserted 8 weeks after complete resolution of peritonitis, and the patient continued treatment with PD. The patient developed severe Covid-19 pneumonia with a sudden appearance of cloudy peritoneal effluent. There was no bacterial or funga...
Peritoneal dialysis-related peritonitis remains the major complication and primary challenge to t... more Peritoneal dialysis-related peritonitis remains the major complication and primary challenge to the long-term success of peritoneal dialysis (PD). The study aimed to analyze the peritonitis rate, the cause, the outcomes, and the association of peritonitis with the survival of patients on peritoneal dialysis. Patient data were collected retrospectively from medical charts. A total of 96 patients received peritoneal dialysis in the PD center from 1 January 1999 to 31 December 2018. Episodes of peritonitis (n=159) were registered in 54 (56.3%) patients. The study population was divided into two groups, a group of patients (n=54) who experienced peritonitis and a group of patients free of peritonitis (n=42). The peritonitis rate was 0.47 episodes per patient year. The majority of causative microorganisms were gram-positive bacteria (53.5%). Outcomes of the episodes of peritonitis were resolved infection in 84.9% of episodes, catheter removal in 11.3% of episodes, and death in 3.8% of th...
Background and Aims Kidney Failure (KF) is treated with three modalities of renal replacement the... more Background and Aims Kidney Failure (KF) is treated with three modalities of renal replacement therapy (RRT): kidney transplantation (Tx), hemodialysis (HD), and peritoneal dialysis (PD). Our study aimed to present the trend of RRT in N. Macedonia from 2015 to 2020. Method The epidemiological retrospective study analyzed the patients with kidney failure by gender, age, etiology of kidney disease, and modality of RRT. The data were processed from the annual reports of the European Renal Association-European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA-EDTA). The study patients were divided into group 1 (prevalent) with patients on the RRT at the current year, group 2 (incidence at Day 1) with patients on the RRT with a duration of at least 1 day, and group 3 (incidence at Day 91) with patients on the RRT with a duration beyond 91 days. Results A total of 10395 patients were analyzed with a mean age of 59.2 ± 9.5 years (median 60.4 years), of which 60.2% were male. From 2015 to 2019, there...
Background and Aims Better removal capacities for middle and large middle molecules in hemodialys... more Background and Aims Better removal capacities for middle and large middle molecules in hemodialysis was achieved in (HD) treatment with the new medium cut-off (MCO) membranes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the long term removal efficacy of Theranova® in standard HD in comparison with standard high-flux HD. Method 11 patients were assigned to high flux and 11 to MCO membranes in 12-months observational study. Each patient was assessed every three months from T0 with high-flux dialyzers, T1 to T5 with MCO at first, third, sixth, nineth and twelfth month by measuring pre- and post-HD samples of β2-microglobilin (β2M), myoglobin, albumin, free light chains kappa (FLC-k), and free light chains lambda (FLC-λ). The cumulative change from as RR from T0 to T5 was defined as long term outcome. Results The data showed a higher average removal rate (RR) for all the uremic toxins with Theranova® dialyzers for β2M, myoglobin, FLC-k, and FLC-λ (66.1, 53.2, 59.2.5, and 60.9%, respectively) ...
Introduction: After the first year following kidney transplantation approximately 3-5% of grafts ... more Introduction: After the first year following kidney transplantation approximately 3-5% of grafts fail each consecutive year. Many factors have impact on the graft function and only a few may be modifiable. Monitoring of the graft function by serum creatinine concentrations and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) are recommended methods for evaluation. The aim of the study was to assess the decline of graft function defined by change in the annual eGFR slope and factors that might affect it. Methods: A total number of 55 adult patients with living donor kidney transplant (LDKT) were included in the study. The inclusion criteria were: first transplantation of one organ kidney, use of living donor related or unrelated (emotionally related spouses) donor. Clinical and biochemical variables, serum creatinine, BUN, protein status, 24 hours proteinuria and body weight were analyzed at 12, 24, 36 and 48 months after transplantation. The Nankivell equation for estimating glomerular filtration rate was used to calculate the slope of renal function over time (1 to 4 years post-transplantayion) by linear regression analysis. Results: Out of 55 kidney transplant recipients 18 (33.3%) were female. The majority of transplants had good function (eGFRNankivell ≥ 60 ml/min) at 1 year. The average GFR at 12 months was 67.81±16.7 mL/min/1.73 m2 with majority of patients at stage 2 of chronic kidney disease classification. Thirty eight patients had eGFR slope <5ml/min/year and 12 patients had a higher slope (>5ml/min/year). Only 5 patients (9%) have graft failure during the period of follow up of 48 months. The average slope decline calculated with linear regression analysis was -3.42 ± 3.2 mL/min/year (range -12.38 – 3.29) (slope ± standard error). Proteinuria was predictive for worsening of the graft function. Rapid progressors have been associated with a higher proteinuria at 24 and 48 months: 0.35 ± 0.39 g/24h, median 0.24 (range 0.11 – 0.43 g/24h) and 0.49 ± 0.59 g/24h, median 0.31 (range 0.14 – 0.48 g/24h), (p=0.044 and p=0.021, respectively). Younger patients have more rapid eGFR slope decline (slope (-7.81 ± 2.12 vs. -2.40 ± 1.3, mL/min/year, p=0,0001). The mean recipient age in the group with stabile eGFR slope was 37.59± 8.7, and in the group with rapid progression was 29.1 ± 8.6 years (p=0.0046). Conclusion: Proteinuria after kidney transplantation has been identified as a risk factor associated with poor graft survival. Younger renal transplant recipients are associated with more rapid decline of the graft function that could be partially explained with their more potent immune response.
Background and Aims Non-compliant dialysis patients are at increased risk of mortality. Complianc... more Background and Aims Non-compliant dialysis patients are at increased risk of mortality. Compliance depends on patient demographics, educational level and income. Family support and marital status might also influence the patients compliance, as well as the quality of life. Missed/shortened dialysis sessions, adherence to prescribed medications, excessive phosphate serum values and interdialytic weigh gain, smoking and adherence to medical investigations provide indicators of non-compliance. Aim: To assess the impact of family support on different compliance indicators in the dialysis patients. Method In this observational study 134 dialysis patients were scored for different indicators of compliance from 0-2 and summary scores of compliance were assessed. Clinical and laboratory data were obtained from the previous two years. Patients with mean IDWGs >4.5% of body weight (BW) and/or phosphorous level above 1.6 mmol/L were scored with 1, patients with IDWG/BW more than 5.7% and/or...
It has been shown that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) near the interleukin 28B (IL28B) ge... more It has been shown that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) near the interleukin 28B (IL28B) gene were associated with sustained virological response following standard antivirological treatment of chronic hepatitis C. The aim of the study was to evaluate the association between SNPs near the IL28B gene and response to the treatment of chronic hepatitis C in hemodialysis patients. The study group included 24 hemodialysis patients with chronic hepatitis C routinely treated with pegylated interferon α-2 a. HCV genotype 1 was the cause of chronic hepatitis C in all study participants. Sustained virological response was determined by an assay with a sensitivity of 20 IU/mL, 6 months after completion of the antivirological treatment. The genotyping of the three most widely studied IL28B gene polymorphisms (rs12979860, rs8099917, and rs12980275) was performed in all study participants. Sustained virological response was achieved in 50% of the treated patients. The treatment response was significantly associated with the CC genotype of rs12979860, TT genotype of rs8099917, and AA genotype of rs12980275 (p = 0.003, p = 0.009, and p = 0.012, respectively). The three most widely studied SNPs near the IL28B gene were associated with sustained virological response following antivirological treatment of chronic hepatitis C in hemodialysis patients.
Background and Aims An arteriovenous fistula (AVF) remains the best choice of vascular access (VA... more Background and Aims An arteriovenous fistula (AVF) remains the best choice of vascular access (VA) for hemodialysis (HD). The aim of our study was determination of factors associated with achieved adequate blood flow (BF) of AVF during 4-th week after creation Method : Created AVF in 63 patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage 4, 5 and 5-HD were analyzed in the prospective single center study, from January 2019 to October 2019. Preoperative mapping of blood vessels by Doppler ultrasound (DUS) on the forearm was performed in all patients. All patients were undergoing surgical creation of new forearm AVF (radio-cephalic) by one doctor. The DUS was used for measuring the diameter size of artery radialis, artery brachialis and vein cephalica before creation of AVF and again on 1-st day, 2-nd and 4-th week after AVF creation. In addition the BF of AVF was also measured by DUS on 1-st day, 2-nd and 4-th week after AVF creation. The adequate BF of AVF for hemodialysis treatment was defined as ≥ 600 ml/min. Patient gender and age, hemodialysis vintage, diameter size of artery radialis, artery brachialis and vein cephalica before creation of AVF were analyzed as factors that were affecting the achieved BF of AVF during 4-th week after creation. Results : The average age of patients was 61.31 ± 12.9 years. From all patients, 60.31% (38/63) were men. The adequate BF of AVF (≥600 ml/min) during 4-th week after creation was achieved in 43.54% (27/63) of created AVFs. The blood flow of AVF measured in male gender was significantly higher compared to the blood flow of AVF measured in female gender (576.03 ml/min vs 375.12 ml/min, p=0.004). The age of the patients and hemodialysis vintage were not significantly associated with achieved adequate BF of AVF during 4-th week after creation of AVF. The adequate BF of AVF was achieved in blood vessels with bigger diameter size. The diameter size of the blood vessels with achieved adequate BF was significantly higher compared to the diameter size of the blood vessels without adequate BF (artery radialis : 2.45 mm vs 2.03 mm, p=0.000; artery brachialis: 4.78 mm vs 4.06 mm, p=0.001 and vein cephalica: 3.12 mm vs 2.83 mm, p=0.018). Conclusion The gender and the diameter size of artery radialis, artery brachialis and vein cephalica before creation of AVF were significantly associated with achieved adequate BF of AVF (≥600 ml/min) during 4-th week after creation of AVF.
Peritoneal dialysis (PD) related peritonitis is usually caused by bacteria, but viruses and fungi... more Peritoneal dialysis (PD) related peritonitis is usually caused by bacteria, but viruses and fungi could also affect the peritoneal membrane and cause cloudy effluent with negative bacterial cultures. We present a case of a PD patient who survived fungal peritonitis caused by Geotrichum klebahnii (March 2015) and COVID-19 pneumonia (April 2021) with peritonitis probably caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The fungal peritonitis followed one episode of exit-site infection and two episodes of bacterial peritonitis treated with a wide-spectrum antibiotic. The patient’s PD catheter was removed immediately upon the diagnosis of fungal peritonitis, and an antifungal treatment was continued for 3 weeks after catheter removal. The new peritoneal catheter was reinserted 8 weeks after complete resolution of peritonitis, and the patient continued treatment with PD. The patient developed severe Covid-19 pneumonia with a sudden appearance of cloudy peritoneal effluent. There was no bacterial or funga...
Peritoneal dialysis-related peritonitis remains the major complication and primary challenge to t... more Peritoneal dialysis-related peritonitis remains the major complication and primary challenge to the long-term success of peritoneal dialysis (PD). The study aimed to analyze the peritonitis rate, the cause, the outcomes, and the association of peritonitis with the survival of patients on peritoneal dialysis. Patient data were collected retrospectively from medical charts. A total of 96 patients received peritoneal dialysis in the PD center from 1 January 1999 to 31 December 2018. Episodes of peritonitis (n=159) were registered in 54 (56.3%) patients. The study population was divided into two groups, a group of patients (n=54) who experienced peritonitis and a group of patients free of peritonitis (n=42). The peritonitis rate was 0.47 episodes per patient year. The majority of causative microorganisms were gram-positive bacteria (53.5%). Outcomes of the episodes of peritonitis were resolved infection in 84.9% of episodes, catheter removal in 11.3% of episodes, and death in 3.8% of th...
Background and Aims Kidney Failure (KF) is treated with three modalities of renal replacement the... more Background and Aims Kidney Failure (KF) is treated with three modalities of renal replacement therapy (RRT): kidney transplantation (Tx), hemodialysis (HD), and peritoneal dialysis (PD). Our study aimed to present the trend of RRT in N. Macedonia from 2015 to 2020. Method The epidemiological retrospective study analyzed the patients with kidney failure by gender, age, etiology of kidney disease, and modality of RRT. The data were processed from the annual reports of the European Renal Association-European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA-EDTA). The study patients were divided into group 1 (prevalent) with patients on the RRT at the current year, group 2 (incidence at Day 1) with patients on the RRT with a duration of at least 1 day, and group 3 (incidence at Day 91) with patients on the RRT with a duration beyond 91 days. Results A total of 10395 patients were analyzed with a mean age of 59.2 ± 9.5 years (median 60.4 years), of which 60.2% were male. From 2015 to 2019, there...
Background and Aims Better removal capacities for middle and large middle molecules in hemodialys... more Background and Aims Better removal capacities for middle and large middle molecules in hemodialysis was achieved in (HD) treatment with the new medium cut-off (MCO) membranes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the long term removal efficacy of Theranova® in standard HD in comparison with standard high-flux HD. Method 11 patients were assigned to high flux and 11 to MCO membranes in 12-months observational study. Each patient was assessed every three months from T0 with high-flux dialyzers, T1 to T5 with MCO at first, third, sixth, nineth and twelfth month by measuring pre- and post-HD samples of β2-microglobilin (β2M), myoglobin, albumin, free light chains kappa (FLC-k), and free light chains lambda (FLC-λ). The cumulative change from as RR from T0 to T5 was defined as long term outcome. Results The data showed a higher average removal rate (RR) for all the uremic toxins with Theranova® dialyzers for β2M, myoglobin, FLC-k, and FLC-λ (66.1, 53.2, 59.2.5, and 60.9%, respectively) ...
Introduction: After the first year following kidney transplantation approximately 3-5% of grafts ... more Introduction: After the first year following kidney transplantation approximately 3-5% of grafts fail each consecutive year. Many factors have impact on the graft function and only a few may be modifiable. Monitoring of the graft function by serum creatinine concentrations and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) are recommended methods for evaluation. The aim of the study was to assess the decline of graft function defined by change in the annual eGFR slope and factors that might affect it. Methods: A total number of 55 adult patients with living donor kidney transplant (LDKT) were included in the study. The inclusion criteria were: first transplantation of one organ kidney, use of living donor related or unrelated (emotionally related spouses) donor. Clinical and biochemical variables, serum creatinine, BUN, protein status, 24 hours proteinuria and body weight were analyzed at 12, 24, 36 and 48 months after transplantation. The Nankivell equation for estimating glomerular filtration rate was used to calculate the slope of renal function over time (1 to 4 years post-transplantayion) by linear regression analysis. Results: Out of 55 kidney transplant recipients 18 (33.3%) were female. The majority of transplants had good function (eGFRNankivell ≥ 60 ml/min) at 1 year. The average GFR at 12 months was 67.81±16.7 mL/min/1.73 m2 with majority of patients at stage 2 of chronic kidney disease classification. Thirty eight patients had eGFR slope <5ml/min/year and 12 patients had a higher slope (>5ml/min/year). Only 5 patients (9%) have graft failure during the period of follow up of 48 months. The average slope decline calculated with linear regression analysis was -3.42 ± 3.2 mL/min/year (range -12.38 – 3.29) (slope ± standard error). Proteinuria was predictive for worsening of the graft function. Rapid progressors have been associated with a higher proteinuria at 24 and 48 months: 0.35 ± 0.39 g/24h, median 0.24 (range 0.11 – 0.43 g/24h) and 0.49 ± 0.59 g/24h, median 0.31 (range 0.14 – 0.48 g/24h), (p=0.044 and p=0.021, respectively). Younger patients have more rapid eGFR slope decline (slope (-7.81 ± 2.12 vs. -2.40 ± 1.3, mL/min/year, p=0,0001). The mean recipient age in the group with stabile eGFR slope was 37.59± 8.7, and in the group with rapid progression was 29.1 ± 8.6 years (p=0.0046). Conclusion: Proteinuria after kidney transplantation has been identified as a risk factor associated with poor graft survival. Younger renal transplant recipients are associated with more rapid decline of the graft function that could be partially explained with their more potent immune response.
Background and Aims Non-compliant dialysis patients are at increased risk of mortality. Complianc... more Background and Aims Non-compliant dialysis patients are at increased risk of mortality. Compliance depends on patient demographics, educational level and income. Family support and marital status might also influence the patients compliance, as well as the quality of life. Missed/shortened dialysis sessions, adherence to prescribed medications, excessive phosphate serum values and interdialytic weigh gain, smoking and adherence to medical investigations provide indicators of non-compliance. Aim: To assess the impact of family support on different compliance indicators in the dialysis patients. Method In this observational study 134 dialysis patients were scored for different indicators of compliance from 0-2 and summary scores of compliance were assessed. Clinical and laboratory data were obtained from the previous two years. Patients with mean IDWGs >4.5% of body weight (BW) and/or phosphorous level above 1.6 mmol/L were scored with 1, patients with IDWG/BW more than 5.7% and/or...
It has been shown that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) near the interleukin 28B (IL28B) ge... more It has been shown that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) near the interleukin 28B (IL28B) gene were associated with sustained virological response following standard antivirological treatment of chronic hepatitis C. The aim of the study was to evaluate the association between SNPs near the IL28B gene and response to the treatment of chronic hepatitis C in hemodialysis patients. The study group included 24 hemodialysis patients with chronic hepatitis C routinely treated with pegylated interferon α-2 a. HCV genotype 1 was the cause of chronic hepatitis C in all study participants. Sustained virological response was determined by an assay with a sensitivity of 20 IU/mL, 6 months after completion of the antivirological treatment. The genotyping of the three most widely studied IL28B gene polymorphisms (rs12979860, rs8099917, and rs12980275) was performed in all study participants. Sustained virological response was achieved in 50% of the treated patients. The treatment response was significantly associated with the CC genotype of rs12979860, TT genotype of rs8099917, and AA genotype of rs12980275 (p = 0.003, p = 0.009, and p = 0.012, respectively). The three most widely studied SNPs near the IL28B gene were associated with sustained virological response following antivirological treatment of chronic hepatitis C in hemodialysis patients.
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