Mortality of diabetic on chronic dialysis in Tunisia.

Survival rates of diabetic patients on maintenance hemodialysis (HD) are reported to be poorer in Tunisia than in developed countries. This study aims to specify the epidemio-logical, clinical, and biological characteristics of diabetic disease, chronic kidney disease (CKD), and comorbidities at the initiation of HD and investigate factors associated with mortality during the dialysis period. We retrospectively analyzed the outcome of diabetic patients who were initiated on HD from 2007 to 2012 at the Rabta Hospital of Tunis. During the follow-up period, all morbid events and deaths were recorded. Univariate analysis and multivariate analysis were performed to identify risk factors associated with mortality in our population. The study population included 142 patients. The mean age was 58.7 ± 11.9 years. The sex ratio male/female was 1.4. One hundred and twenty-seven patients were type 2 diabetics (89.4%). Diabetic nephropathy was the main initial nephropathy (87.3%). CKD was diagnosed at Stages 4 or 5 in 95.1% of cases. HD was started in emergency conditions in 68.6% of cases. The one-year and the five-year survival rates were 42% and 17%, respectively. At initiation of HD, low socioeconomic status (P = 0.001), advanced age (P = 0.008), low body mass index (P = 0.04), history of stroke (P = 0.04), peripheral neuropathy (P = 0.02), initial vascular access (P = 0.03), secondary hyperpara-thyroidism (P = 0.03), nephrotic-range proteinuria (P = 0.01), and glycated hemoglobin ≤7% (P = 0.03) were associated with higher mortality rate. During dialysis period, cardiovascular events (P = 0.02), infectious complications (P = 0.04), and secondary hyperparathyroidism (P = 0.04) were significantly more noticeable among deceased patients. Due to poor survival rates of diabetic patients on HD, prevention, early detection, and management of diabetic CKD patients should be the way to go forward.

[Kaposi sarcoma in a patient with ANCA vasculitis requiring hemodialysis]. / Sarcome de kaposi compliquant une vascularite à ANCA en hémodialyse chronique.

INTRODUCTION: Iatrogenic Kaposi's sarcoma is widely reported after transplantation. Less commonly, it occurs in patients receiving immunosuppressive therapy for ANCA associated vasculitis. We report here the rare association of Kaposi's sarcoma, prurigo nodularis and ANCA associated vasculitis in a hemodialysis patient. CASE REPORT: We describe a 58-year-old woman who presented granulomatosis with polyangeiitis with alveolar hemorrhage and renal failure requiring hemodialysis. She developed cutaneous Kaposi's sarcoma seven weeks after the beginning of immunosuppressive therapy. Biological tests showed negative HHV8 virus infection. Lesions of Kaposi's sarcoma responded to a discontinuation of immunosuppressive drugs and a decreasing dosage of corticosteroids. CONCLUSION: Our case showed that the immunosuppressed state related to multiple factors such as underlying disease, immunosuppressive therapy and hemodialysis may all have contributed to the development of this neoplastic disorder in our patient.

Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome: A monocentric adult Tunisian study and review of literature.

Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) is characterized by microvascular thrombosis resulting in thrombocytopenia, hemolytic anemia, and multiorgan dysfunction. It is associated with genetic or acquired disorders of regulatory components of the complement system. For our study, we collected data from 16 patients diagnosed with aHUS between January 2010 and January 2014. The mean age was 33.6 years. The female-to-male ratio was 3. The median follow-up duration was 27 ± 3.5 months. The most common clinical presentation was hypertension. Renal involvement was noted in all cases. Ten patients had extrarenal manifestations. Semi-quantitative dysfunction of the alternative pathway of complement was found in all cases. A genetic study was not available for our patients. During the acute stage, all patients received plasma therapy, and among them, seven required dialysis and five were still on dialysis at the time of discharge. One patient underwent renal transplantation. None of our patients received eculizumab perfusion. The renal survival was inversely correlated to young age (<30 years) (P = 0.001), presence of anti-factor H antibodies (P = 0.003) and serum creatinine at diagnosis >5 mg/dL (P = 0.02). Mortality rate was significantly correlated to young age (<30 years old) (P = 0.01). Collecting multicentric data on adult patients with aHUS will enable better characterization of the spectrum of adult aHUS in our country and the evaluation of current treatments and different outcomes.