ABSTRACT
Objective: To determine frequencies of various acute complications in patients undergoing hemodialysis
Study Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study
Place and Duration of Study: Department of Nephrology Military Hospital [MH] Rawalpindi, from Jan 2016 till Mar 2016
Material and Methods: A total of 150 patients who underwent haemodialysis at MH were enrolled in the study after informed consent on justification of inclusion and exclusion criteria. The patients were evaluated for the frequency of various intra-dialytic complications and data were analysed using SPSS version 19
Results: Out of the 150 enrolled patients, males were 125 [83.33%] and females were 25 [16.67%]. A total of 2520 haemodialysis session were performed. Hypotension was the most frequently observed complication during 318 [12.62%] dialysis sessions, followed by hypertension in 208 [8.25%] and fever in 193 [7.66%] sessions. Other complications were muscle cramps in 116 [4.60%], shivering in 94 [3.73%], headache in 70 [2.78%], nausea/vomiting 60 [2.38%], itching 41 [1.62%], chest pain 37 [1.47%], hypoglycaemia 31 [1.23%], seizures 23 [0.91%] and arrhythmias in 13 [0.52%] dialysis sessions
Conclusion: Haemodialysis, one of the renal replacement therapies, is a life-saving treatment modality but it is not without complications despite the advances in technology. However frequency with which they occur is low and majority are not life threatening
ABSTRACT
A 28 years old female presented with headache, fever, altered sensorium and right side weakness for one week. She was febrile and drowsy with right sided hemiplegia and papilledema. Tuberculous or bacterial meningitis, tuberculoma and abscess were at the top of the diagnosis list followed by Herpes simplex meningo-encephalitis [HSE]. MRI showed abnormal signal intensity of left temporal lobe without significant post-contrast enhancement and midline shift. CSF examination was normal, gram stain and Ziehl-Neelsen stain showed no micro-organism, or acid fast bacilli. CSF for MTB PCR was negative. PCR DNA for Herpes simplex 1 on CSF was detected. Acyclovir was started and the patient was discharged after full recovery. A high index of suspicion is required for HSE diagnosis in Pakistan where other infections predominantly affect the brain and HSE may be overlooked as a potential diagnosis.