Efficacy and safety of steroid combined with immunosuppressants in the treatment of primary IgA nephropathy in children: a Meta analysis / 中国当代儿科杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of steroid combined with immunosuppressants in the treatment of primary IgA nephropathy in children.@*METHODS@#English and Chinese electronic databases were searched to include the studies on the efficacy and safety of steroid combined with immunosuppressants versus steroid alone in the treatment of primary IgA nephropathy in children. Outcome measures included proteinuria remission rate, urinary protein quantification, incidence of adverse events, estimated glomerular filtration rate, and incidence of renal dysfunction. Review Manager 5.3 software was used for data analysis.@*RESULTS@#A total of 7 studies with 381 children were included. The children had moderate to severe proteinuria. The Meta analysis showed that compared with the steroid alone group, the steroid combined with immunosuppressants group achieved a significantly higher rate of proteinuria remission (RR=1.36, 95%CI: 1.19-1.55, P<0.001) and significantly lower urinary protein quantification (SMD=-0.82, 95%CI: -1.23 to -0.41, P<0.001). There was no significant difference in the incidence rate of adverse events between the two groups (RR=1.28, 95%CI: 0.92-1.77, P=0.14).@*CONCLUSIONS@#The current evidence shows that for children with primary IgA nephropathy who have moderate to severe proteinuria, steroid combined with immunosuppressants has a better effect than steroid alone and does not increase the incidence rate of adverse events.

Evaluation of renal artery stenosis using color Doppler sonography in young patients with multiple renal arteries / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Some individuals have multiple renal arteries. Severe stenosis in one of the arteries may cause refractory hypertension. The detection of stenosis within one of the multiple renal arteries usually required invasive procedures, such as computed tomographic angiography (CTA) and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA). This study reported the application of color Doppler sonography (CDS) in the detection of severe stenosis in one of the multiple arteries.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Patients with multiple renal arteries and one of the arteries with severe stenosis were retrospectively studied. Peak systolic velocities (PSV) of renal arteries and the intrarenal CDS patterns were collected and compared. The diagnosis was confirmed by digital subtraction angiography (DSA).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Four children with multiple renal arteries and one of the arteries with stenosis were investigated. They were admitted due to refractory hypertension. CDS screening identified two renal arteries in one kidney of each patient with one of the two renal arteries having stenosis > 70%. The PSV of the stenosed arteries were much higher, and the intrarenal CDS patterns supplied by the stenosed arteries changed into T-P patterns.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Non-invasive CDS technology may be a useful method to identify severe stenosis in one of multiple renal arteries in young patients.</p>

Clinical analysis of acute kidney injury in children with renal diseases / 中华儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>Acute kidney injury (AKI) was recently proposed for early recognition of renal function impairment and prompt interventions. Previous study revealed that AKI was highly associated with the prognosis. However, there was rare report of AKI in renal diseases, especially in children cohorts. Therefore, we performed the prospective clinical research in children with renal diseases in our hospital, aiming to study the prevalence, the clinical characteristics and the short-term prognosis of AKI.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>The study was designed as a prospective, single-center observational study.</p><p><b>INCLUSION CRITERIA</b>(1) the primary diagnosis was primary nephrotic syndrome (NS), Henoch-Schoenlein purpura nephritis (HSPN) or lupus nephritis (LN), (2) the duration from the onset of the renal diseases to the admission was less than 3 months. The serum creatinine and urine output of the subjects would be prospectively monitored. AKI was defined by the adult criteria and stratified by Acute Kidney Injury Network (AKIN) criteria. The patients were followed up at 6 months and 12 months after enrollment.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Between October 2007 and April 2009, a total of 95 children were included, including 65 cases with NS, 15 HSPN and 15 LN. Mean age was (8.9 ± 3.9) years (range 2 - 16 years). Thirty-three of the 95 patients (34.7%) fulfilled the AKI criteria, 13 patients (13.7%) were diagnosed as acute renal failure (ARF). All the AKI in children with LN and HSPN presented with serum creatinine elevation. However, 65.4% of AKI in NS presented with decreasing urine output, only 19.2% accompanied with increasing creatinine, with higher stages of urine output. Regarding the etiology, only 26.9% of AKI in NS had definite cause, most of which resulted from side-effect of cyclosporine, hypovolemia or tubule-interstitial damage, independent of glomerular diseases. In contrast, the AKI in LN and HSPN were exclusively caused by glomerular diseases. The length and costs of hospitalization of AKI group were significantly higher than non-AKI [length of hospitalization (d), 28(6 to 94) vs. 21(7 to 100), Z = -1.971, P = 0.049; cost of hospitalization (yuan), 12 035.7 (1561.7 to 94 783.1) vs. 8594.3 (1390.1 to 98 876.5), Z = -1.993, P = 0.046]. There was no significant difference in the serum creatinine at 6-month and 12-month follow-up between AKI group and non-AKI [6-month, (60.4 ± 91.8) µmol/L vs. (42.8 ± 12.2) µmol/L, t = 0.937, P = 0.358; 12-month, (48.7 ± 18.1) µmol/L vs. (47.7 ± 14.2) µmol/L, t = 0.197, P = 0.845].</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The prevalence of AKI (34.7%) was higher than that of ARF (13.7%) in children with renal diseases. Most of the AKI in NS resulted from non-glomerular diseases. In contrast, most AKI in LN and HSPN were caused by underlying glomerular diseases. The length and costs of hospitalization were significantly higher in AKI group. However, there was no significant difference in serum creatinine between AKI and non-AKI group in the follow-up at 6 months and 12 months. Further investigations on criteria for the diagnosis of AKI in children with renal diseases are still needed.</p>

Reversible ceftriaxone-associated biliary pseudolithiasis in three children with renal diseases / 中华儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the clinical characteristics of ceftriaxone-associated biliary pseudolithiasis in children with renal diseases.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Three children with renal diseases developed biliary pseudolithiasis when they were treated with ceftriaxone. Their clinical and laboratory data were retrospectively analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Case one was an 11-year-old boy. The initial diagnosis was primary nephrotic syndrome. Ceftriaxone was administered intravenously at a dose of 2 g/d [50 mg/(kg * d)] for gastroenteritis. After that the boy complained of nausea and loss of appetite. Abdominal sonogram obtained on day 3 of ceftriaxone therapy revealed gallbladder sludge. After cessation of ceftriaxone treatment, symptoms and ultrasound abnormalities gradually disappeared, with complete sonographic resolution after 16 days. Case two was a 10-year-old boy. The primary diagnosis was post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis with acute renal failure. The child was treated with 1.5 g/d [30 mg/(kg * d)] intravenous ceftriaxone for gastroenteritis. After that, the boy complained of nausea and abdominal pain with positive Murphy's sign. Gallstone was detected by ultrasonographic examination on day 6 of ceftriaxone therapy. After cessation of ceftriaxone treatment, symptoms and sonographic abnormalities gradually disappeared, with complete sonographic resolution after 18 days. Case three was a 12-year-old boy. The primary diagnosis was nephrotic syndrome. He was treated with 2 g/d [40 mg/(kg.d)] ceftriaxone for gastroenteritis. Gallbladder lithiasis was detected 17 days after the initiation of ceftriaxone therapy (3 days after cessation of ceftriaxone treatment). Gallbladder sonogram was found to be normal two months after the discontinuation of the therapy.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Biliary pseudolithiasis occurred in 3 cases with renal diseases receiving low doses of ceftriaxone. The risk of developing ceftriaxone-associated biliary pseudolithiasis might increase in patients with renal diseases who are treated with ceftriaxone.</p>

Clinical and Pathological Analysis of 91 Children with Lupus Nephritis / 实用儿科临床杂志

Objective To analyze the clinical and pathological characteristics of children with lupus nephritis(LN).Methods Ninety-one children with LN were diagnosed from 1993 to 2005,according to the clinical literature and renal pathology and the data were retrospectively summarized.Results Within the cohort of 91 children,there were 69 females and 22 males(female to male ratio 3.1).Most of the sick children were at the school age ranging from 6.0 to 15.5 years old.Nephrotic syndrome(44.0%) was the most common clinical manifestation.Fifty-nine renal biopsies were performed.Class Ⅳ LN(59.3%) was the most frequent pathological findings."A full-house pattern" on immunofluorescence was found in 72.0% of biopsies.The clinical and pathological manifestations of some children were atypical.There were 3 patients characterized by predominant deposits of immunoglobulin M(IgM),1 patient with predominant deposits of IgA,and 2 children with pauci-immune LN.Three children with class Ⅱ LN in our study presented with nephrotic syndrome.LN was initially controlled by aggressive treatment in 93.7% of thse patients.Relapses of nephritis covered 27.1% of them,mostly caused by the intermittent treatment.Conclusions The clinical and pathological manifestations of LN were variable.Some atypical LN was considered to be associated with the distinct pathogenesis.Most of LN could be controlled by aggressive treatment.Long and regular treatment is necessary to improve the prognosis of LN.

Clinical Analysis of 10 Children with Takayasu′s Arteritis / 实用儿科临床杂志

Objective To investigate the clinical features,treatment response and prognosis in children with Takayasu′s arteritis(TA) in order to improve the understanding of TA.Methods A retrospective study of 10 children with TA was performed.All of them were admitted and diagnosed in Peking University First Hospital from Jan.1998 to Oct.2008.The clinical features,laboratory tests,imaging modalities,treatment response and prognosis were all collected and evaluated.Results There were 3 boys and 7 girls in the 10 patients with TA,and the ratio of male to female was 12.3.The onset was from 4 months to 9 years old,with average age at 5.5 years old.The average duration of diagnosis was 7.6 months.The incidences of hypertension,vascular bruits,albuminuria,convulsion were present in 100%,100%,70% and 40%,respectively.The clinical types included typeⅡ(60%),type Ⅲ(10%) and type Ⅳ(30%).The acute phase inflammatory indices of activity such as erythrocyte sedimentation rate(ESR),C-reactive protein(CRP) and white blood cell(WBC) were not evidently increased.Tuberculosis infection was found in 6 out of 10 patients and anti-tuberculosis treatment was performed.Six patients were treated with steroids and 3 cases of them were also given immunosuppressives cyclophosphamide or methotrexate.Three of the 10 patients received anti-hypertensive and vasodilator.Two patients received percutaneous translurminal angioplasty and 1 patient received nephrectomy.One patient died of renal failure,heart failure and shock.Conclusions The patients with TA had high prevalence of tuberculosis infection,diagnosis as often late because of lack of specific clinical features at the acute inflammatory period.When organic ischaemia occurred,treatment response was usually unsatisfactory.Patients with multi-systemic and multi-viscera lesions should have comprehensive examination,especially for those with hypertension,pulseless and vascular bruits,in order to rule out TA.Early ultrasonography,computed tomography and magnetic resonnance image methods are valued in eariler diagnosis and they are the key factors to improve prognosis.