Postimplantation syndrome in a kidney trasplant patient: fever is not always synonimous with infection.

Fever in an immunocompromised patient like the transplanted subject is usually due to an overt or occult infection. Clinicians must make important decisions to find the cause of fever, and also concerning the timing and adequacy of empiric antibiotic therapy. However, occasionally, fever is not due to an infectious cause. A correct identification of its causes may avoid a needlessly prolonged course of antibiotics. Herein we have reported a kidney transplant patient with a febrile syndrome, which appeared after endovascular aortoiliac stent-graft placement, that was finally attributed to a noninfectious cause like postimplantation syndrome.

[Treatment of acute lithium intoxication with high-flux haemodialysis membranes]. / Tratamiento de la intoxicación aguda por litio mediante hemodiálisis con dializadores de alta eficiencia.

Lithium carbonate is commonly prescribed for the treatment of bipolar (manic-depressive) disorders. However, because of its narrow therapeutic index an excessive elevation of serum lithium concentration, either during chronic maintenance therapy or after an acute overdose, can result in serious toxicity. In addition to supportive care, the established treatment of severe lithium toxicity is haemodialysis. Conventional haemodialysis can reduce serum lithium rapidly, but post-dialysis rebound elevations with recurrent toxicity have been documented in old publications. High-flux membranes should be capable of removing more lithium per hour of haemodialysis, but published values are not available. We report here three patients with acute lithium intoxication who were treated successfully with bicarbonate and high-flux haemodialysis membranes. Our patients presented with a severe degree of intoxication, based on the amount of drug ingested, the initial serum lithium level, the severity of neurologic symptoms and systemic manifestations. Two patients developed acute renal failure probably as a result of volume depletion since it was rapidly reversible by haemodialysis and infusion therapy. In addition, consecutive haemodialysis sessions and improvement of renal function allowed a rapid decrease in serum lithium levels without haemodynamic instability or rebound elevations in lithium concentration. The effectiveness of the procedure in these cases can be attributed to the use of bicarbonate dialysate and high-efficiency dialysers. This is the first report describing the effect of high-efficiency dialysers on lithium pharmacokinetic. Using this technique the elimination rate of lithium was found to be greater than previously reported with haemodialysis.

Survival predictability of time-varying indicators of bone disease in maintenance hemodialysis patients.

Although renal osteodystrophy and vitamin D analogs may be related to survival in maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients, most studies have examined associations between baseline values and survival without accounting for variations in clinical and laboratory measures over time. We examined associations between survival and quarterly laboratory values and administered paricalcitol in a 2-year (July 2001-June 2003) cohort of 58,058 MHD patients from all DaVita dialysis clinics in USA using both time-dependent Cox models with repeated measures and fixed-covariate Cox models with only baseline values. Whereas hypercalcemia and hyperphosphatemia were robust predictors of higher death risk in all models, the association between serum calcium and mortality was different in time-varying models. Changes in baseline calcium and phosphorus values beyond the Kidney Disease Outcome Quality Initiative recommended targets were associated with increased mortality. Associations between high serum parathyroid hormone and increased death risk were masked by case-mix characteristics of MHD patients. Time-varying serum alkaline phosphatase had an incremental association with mortality. Administration of any dose of paricalcitol was associated with improved survival in time-varying models. Controlling for nutritional markers may introduce overadjustment bias owing to their strong collinearity with osteodystrophy surrogates. Whereas both time-dependent and fixed-covariate Cox models result in similar associations between osteodystrophy indicators and survival, subtle but potentially clinically relevant differences between the two models exist, probably because fixed models do not account for variations of osteodystrophy indices and changes in medication dose over time.

Tratamiento de la intoxicación aguda por litio mediante hemodiálisis con dializadores de alta eficiencia / Treatment of acute lithium intoxication wigh high-flux haemodialysis membranes

El carbonato de litio se utiliza de forma habitual para el tratamiento de los trastornosbipolares (maniaco-depresivos). Sin embargo, debido a su estrecho margenterapéutico la elevación de los niveles séricos, bien durante la terapia crónica demantenimiento o después de una sobredosis aguda, puede dar lugar a toxicidadgrave. En la intoxicación aguda severa por litio el tratamiento establecido es la hemodiálisis,que permite la eliminación rápida de la droga. Las membranas de altoflujo deben ser capaces de eliminar más litio por hora de hemodiálisis, pero existenpocas evidencias al respecto. Se presentan tres pacientes con una intoxicaciónaguda por litio con riesgo vital, complicada en dos de ellos por insuficiencia renal,que fueron tratados con éxito mediante hemodiálisis intermitente diaria con membranasde alto flujo. Las técnicas actuales de hemodiálisis, utilizando dializadoresde alta eficiencia y baño de diálisis con bicarbonato, permiten una eliminaciónexcelente del litio sin el rebote que típicamente se observaba en el pasado tras lahemodiálisis convencional. La hemodiálisis debe ser instaurada precozmente encualquier paciente con intoxicación por litio que presente coma, convulsiones, fallorespiratorio, deterioro del estado mental, y especialmente si la función renal estácomprometida

Lithium carbonate is commonly prescribed for the treatment of bipolar(manic-depressive) disorders. However, because of its narrow therapeutic indexan excessive elevation of serum lithium concentration, either during chronicmaintenance therapy or after an acute overdose, can result in serious toxicity.In addition to supportive care, the established treatment of severe lithium toxicity is haemodialysis. Conventional haemodialysis can reduce serum lithiumrapidly, but post-dialysis rebound elevations with recurrent toxicity have beendocumented in old publications. High-flux membranes should be capable ofremoving more lithium per hour of haemodialysis, but published values are notavailable. We report here three patients with acute lithium intoxication whowere treated successfully with bicarbonate and high-flux haemodialysis membranes.Our patients presented with a severe degree of intoxication, based onthe amount of drug ingested, the initial serum lithium level, the severity of neurologicsymptoms and systemic manifestations. Two patients developed acuterenal failure probably as a result of volume depletion since it was rapidly reversibleby haemodialysis and infusion therapy. In addition, consecutive haemodialysissessions and improvement of renal function allowed a rapid decreasein serum lithium levels without haemodynamic instability or reboundelevations in lithium concentration. The effectiveness of the procedure in thesecases can be attributed to the use of bicarbonate dialysate and high-efficiencydialysers. This is the first report describing the effect of high-efficiency dialyserson lithium pharmacokinetic. Using this technique the elimination rate oflithium was found to be greater than previously reported with haemodialysis