Kikuchi-Fujimoto's Disease: A Rare and Underdiagnosed Condition with Possible Renal Involvement.

Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease (KFD), or Histiocytic Necrotizing Lymphadenitis, is a rare disease, with worldwide distribution but is best known in Japan and South Asia. The most common feature is cervical lymphadenopathy, accompanied by tenderness or high fever, with night sweats, but it can also be asymptomatic or with a very wide range of symptoms. The diagnosis is histopathological, on excisional biopsy. The Kikuchi-Fujmoto disease can mimic lymphoma but also tuberculosis and some autoimmune diseases, or be associated with them. Nephrologists need to be aware of it, considering the potential renal involvement. The association with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the most frequent but not the only one. Early diagnosis of this disease can prevent unnecessary investigations and aggressive therapies.

The experience of a European nephrologist at the SIUT: the largest Nephrology-Urology Transplantation Unit in South East Asia.

An Italian nephrologist, during her long experience in the Middle East, is a guest at the SIUT (Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation) in Karachi, the largest centre of nephrology-urology and transplantation in South Asia. She discovers the "SIUT model" which guarantees a constant quality of health care, fighting organ trafficking despite the poor economic conditions of the country, Pakistan.

Anthropometric parameters of nutritional assessment as predictive factors of arteriovenous fistula malfunction in patients undergoing hemodialysis.

INTRODUCTION: To evaluate the role of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (W-C) and waist/hip ratio (WHR) on arteriovenous fistula (AVF) dysfunction. METHODS: We evaluated 84 HD patients with an average follow-up period of 31.3 ± 8.1 months, identifying 8 stenosis (STN) and 17 thrombosis (THR) cases. The association between paired variables was tested with Pearson's coefficient (r) and p-value, whereas the prognostic value on STN and THR was analysed using Cox's regression. The significant independent variables were indentified with an inverse step-wise approach defining the data as hazard ratio (HR). A double-event (Stenosis/Thrombosis) model, function of Body mass index and Waist/hip ratio was used. Arteriovenous fistula survival was assessed with the Kaplan-Meyer curve and the calculations were carried out with Graph-Pad. RESULTS: On univariate analysis, THR showed direct correlation with BMI (r=0.44, p<0.01), W-C (r=0.39, p<0.05) WHR (r=0.37, p<0.01), Hemoglobin (p<0.001), C-Reactive protein (p=0.01), Calcium/Phosforus product (p=0.03), Parathyroid hormone (p=0.03) and inverse with albumin (p<0.001) and systolic blood pressure (p=0.003). On multivariate analysis, BMI variations were not predictive of STN and THR, whereas each unitary WHR and W-C increase was predictive of an increase of risk of events (3.8% and 2.1% respectively). The prognostic power of W-C per STN (HR 1: 1.19; p<0.05) and THR (HR: 1.28; p<0.01) remained significant even after being adjusted to account for traditional risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: Abdominal obesity increases the risk of AVF dysfunction. The W-C and WHR parameters, not BMI, emerge as independent STN and THR predictors.