ABSTRACT
Background: Candida score has been developed and used for identifying patients at risk for developing Candida infections. However, its usefulness in predicting outcome of patients with candidemia has not been evaluated. We aimed to determine the risk factors for mortality in patients with candidemia admitted to an Indian medical intensive care unit (ICU). Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis of 56 patients with candidemia presented in 18 months duration. Baseline patient characteristics, ICU course and outcome were noted and Candida score was calculated. We conducted analysis based on the primary outcome measure of ICU mortality. Results: Out of 3,142 ICU admissions, the incidence of candidemia was 17.8/1,000 admissions. The mean interval between ICU admission and candidemia was 12.9 ± 14.4 days. C. tropicalis was the commonest species isolated from 28.6% isolates, followed by Candida albicans (21.4%) and C. glabrata (12.5%). The mean length of ICU stay was 22.9 ± 28 days and hospital stay was 30.1 ± 30.2 days. Crude ICU mortality was 33.93%. There was no statistically significant difference between mortality of patients with albicans and non-albicans candidemia (p=0.732). On multivariate analysis, only two factors, previous antifungal therapy (p=0.004, OR=101.4, 95% CI=4.52-227.7) and Candida score >3 (p=0.028, OR=13.2, 95% CI=1.3-125) were found to be independently predicting mortality. Conclusion: Candida infection is generally late-onset and is associated with a prolonged ICU and hospital stay, and a high mortality. Candida non-albicans infection was more common but there was no difference in mortality among patients with C. albicans and non-albicans infection. Previous antifungal therapy and Candida score were found to be independently predicting mortality.
ABSTRACT
Background: Congenital positional, rotational and fusion anomalies of the kidney are frequently encountered. Crossed renal ectopia is a condition in which the kidney is located on the side contralateral to its ureteral insertion into the urinary bladder. Crossed renal ectopia without fusion is a very rare anomaly sporadically reported in the literature. We have attempted to analyse such renal anomalies in a large series of patients. Materials & Methods: Contrast enhanced multidetector computed tomographic scans of 960 patients (491 males and 469 females, age range 4-90 years) were reviewed . Observations: Crossed renal ectopia without fusion was detected in three patients (0.31%; 1 in 320 cases). All three patients were males and left- to-right renal ectopia was noted in two cases and right-to-left ectopia in one case, in whom the ectopic right kidney was exhibiting multicystic dysplasia. An interesting observation was vascularisation of crossed ectopic unfused left kidneys by branches arising from the right common iliac artery. Conclusion: Crossed renal ectopia without fusion is an extremely rare anomaly and may remain asymptomatic without being detected. Multidetector computed tomography angiography is an excellent imaging modality to detect renal positional and rotational anomalies. To the best of our knowledge the present study is the first study to detect renal anomalies in a large series of cases.