A survey on the prevalence and management of hepatitis B after renal transplantation in Asian-Pacific countries.

The carrier rate for hepatitis B virus (HBV) varies from 1% to 2% to 10% in Asian-Pacific countries. A survey involving 12 transplant centers from 11 countries in this region showed that 1% to 25% of kidney transplant recipients were infected with HBV, and up to 60% of these subjects showed abnormal liver biochemistry. While nearly all centers tested anti-HBs in potential kidney transplant recipients, HBV vaccination of nonimmune subjects was routine in only 66.7%. One-third of the surveyed units rejected HBsAg-positive subjects as kidney donors, while the others demonstrated differing policies in choosing the respective recipients. Two units (16.7%) excluded HBsAg-positive patients from kidney transplantation, whereas the others only excluded those with severe liver disease. Heterogeneity also applies to the immunosuppressive regimens, the use of HBV DNA in serial monitoring, and the timing of antiviral therapy in HBsAg-positive kidney transplant recipients. The data showed that despite HBV infection being a significant problem in kidney transplantation, there is a lack of uniform management policy, attributable to the clinical complexity and deficiency of research data. Although improvement in clinical outcome is likely with the advent of nucleoside analogue therapy and better monitoring, the financial implications in the adoption of these recent advances remain realistic concerns.

The new rHuEPO alpha (epotin) in the management of anemia of end-stage renal disease in patients on maintenance hemodialysis.

Recombinant human erythropoietin has proved to be effective to treat anemia of end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety profile of Epotin, a rHuEPO produced in the Middle East. One hundred thirty patients with Hct

Analysis of 490 kidney biopsies: data from the United Arab Emirates Renal Diseases Registry.

There is little data on the spectrum of renal diseases in the United Arab Emirates. A renal diseases registry has been set up in an attempt to address this issue nationwide, and we report here the first outcome of this endeavor, a retrospective histopathologic analysis of 490 native kidney biopsies performed on adult patients presenting to four hospitals in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi from 1978 to June 1996. The most common indication for a biopsy was the nephrotic syndrome (54.0%), followed by asymptomatic urinary abnormalities (29.7%), and chronic renal failure (12.7%). Primary glomerular disease accounted for 77.1% of all biopsies. Chronic proliferative glomerulonephritis as a group was the predominant pathology (36.2%), followed by idiopathic membranous glomerulopathy (20.1%), focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (18.3%), minimal change nephropathy (18.3%), and IgA nephropathy (6.3%). Of the patients with secondary kidney diseases, 33 (40.7%) had systemic lupus erythematosis, 27 (33.3%) amyloidosis, 14 interstitial nephropathy, and seven diabetic nephropathy. Kidney biopsies of 187 patients with primary glomerular disease who presented with the nephrotic syndrome were analyzed. In this group idiopathic membranous glomerulopathy, proliferative glomerulonephritis, and minimal change glomerulopathy was found in almost equal proportions (28.3%, 26.6%, 26.2%) with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (15.4%) accounting for the bulk of the remainder. Though the overall results of this analysis do not show any major differences in the spectrum of primary glomerulopathies in the United Arab Emirates compared with other countries, a slight tendency towards a higher frequency of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis among patients indigenous to the Arabian Peninsular (20.4%) deserves further evaluation.

Is peritonitis a limiting factor in the widespread use of CAPD in the developing countries?

Although continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) is now an established form of treatment for patients with end-stage renal failure (ESRF), it is not being used on a large scale in developing countries (DC). One of the limiting factors in this regard is peritonitis which is the most common complication of CAPD. Data on 70 patients on CAPD in our center were analyzed to study the impact of peritonitis on long-term outcome of this treatment. The mean age of the study patients was 37.2 years and the mean follow-up was 32.8 months per patient. A total of 41 patients (58.6%) received CAPD as first choice, 27 (38.6%) were started on CAPD after being on hemodialysis earlier and two (2.8%) were started on CAPD after a failed renal transplantation. Thirty three patients (47.1%) used safe-leur lock system, 23 (32.9%) used the spike system and 14 (20%) used safe-leur system initially and subsequently were changed to spike system. The overall incidence of peritonitis encountered was one episode per 32.3 patients months and was higher among patients who started CAPD as second choice. The incidence of peritonitis was not influenced by sex, age, profession or presence of diabetes mellitus or cardiovascular disease. This study shows that peritonitis rate in CAPD patients in our hospital is low and compares favorably with results from established centers in the developed countries. Thus, worries about recerrent peritonitis should not hinder CAPD programs in DC.

Hepatitis C virus infection among dialysis patients in United arab emirates.

To evaluate the incidence of positivity of anti-hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) antibodies in the hemodialysis (HD) patients, and the impact of isolation of the anti-HCV positive patients, we studied 262 HD patients in our unit between January 1991 and December 1993. There were 64 patients with anti-HCV positivity. Forty nine of them were males, and 15 were females, with mean ages of 41.8 +/- 8.6 years. The mean dialysis period was 20.9 +/- 2.5 months. The serum anti-HCV antibodies were detected with second generation HCV enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. The test was repeated every three months for the patients, and every six months for the dialysis staff members. Dialyzers were not reused. Isolation of the positive patients by using designated HD machines was performed, besides adopting the universal precautions of infection. At the time of the inclusion to the study 45 patients out of 64 (70.3%) were anti-HCV positive. In this group 42% received blood transfusions, 17.5% started hemodialysis in another dialysis unit. Nineteen patients (29.7%) seroconverted during the study period. In this group, nine patients (47.6%) received blood transfusions (1.7 + 0.5 units). Of the seroconverted patients, eight (42%) travelled abroad and received HD during their holidays. Eight of the seroconverted patients did not have identifiable risk factors except HD. The overall seroconversion rate was 0.95 per 100 patient months. The rate decreased to 0.4 per 100 patient months if the identifiable causes for seroconversion (blood transfusion, duration of dialysis, holiday dialysis) were excluded. We conclude that HCV infection is frequent in hemodialysis patients. Strict follow up of the universal precautions together with isolation of anti-HCV positive patients with designated machines may be sufficient to prevent nosocomial transmission of HCV infection. The risk of transfusion may be minimized by using r-Human erythropoietin in the treatment of anemia in this population.

High mortality among recipients of bought living-unrelated donor kidneys.

Between June, 1984, and May, 1988, 130 patients from three renal units in the United Arab Emirates and Oman went of their own accord to Bombay, where they bought, through brokers, kidneys from living unrelated Indian donors for US$2600-3300. 131 transplants were done, and the 122 patients who survived the perioperative period returned to their original renal units for follow-up. Altogether there were 25 deaths (16 before the end of 3 months, 4 in the next 3 months, and 4 more by the end of the first year), which gave a patient survival rate of 81.5% at 1 year. The patients who died had multiple complications, but infection was the commonest known cause of death. Patients were not properly instructed about their treatment, and little or no information was given to doctors following up the patients, criteria of suitability for transplantation were not strict, and patients were exposed to serious infections (including human immunodeficiency virus infection). In addition, the availability of living-donor programmes slows down attempts to establish cadaver-donor transplant programmes.

Ethics and commerce in live donor renal transplantation: classification of the issues.

Renal transplantation is now very successful. A shortage of kidneys continues to be a problem. Attempts to increase the supply have recently led to unethical practices, but the issues in the discussion of the ethics need clarification. We propose a classification that we believe will help to achieve this for living donor renal transplantation. This can be considered under five categories: (1) living-related donation; (2) emotionally related donation; (3) altruistic donation; (4) "rewarded" gifting; and (5) rampant commercialism. Ethical issues for categories 1, 2, and 3 are either esoteric or have been resolved. Category 4 needs further discussion and elucidation and should be the area of concentration. Category 5 we perceive to be unethical.