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ABSTRACTBackground: Increased serum calcium-phosphate product (CaP) can result in acute kidney injury (AKI) due to tubular and interstitial calcium phosphate deposits. CaP of > 55 mg2/dL2is also associated with systemic calcification. However, the risk of AKI development among hospitalized patients with different admission calcium-phosphate product levels remains unclear.Methods: All adult hospitalized patients who had both admission serum calcium and phosphate levels available from 2009 through 2013 were enrolled. Admission CaP was categorized based on its distribution into six groups (<22, 22- < 27, 27- < 32, 32- < 37, 37- < 42 and ≥42 mg2/dL2). The odds ratio (OR) of in-hospital mortality by admission CaP, using the CaP category of < 22 mg2/dL2as the reference group, was obtained by logistic regression analysis.Results: After excluding patients with end-stage renal disease, without serum creatinine measurement, and those who presented with AKI at the time of admission, a total of 9,864 patients were studied. In-hospital AKI occurred in 1,478 patients (15.0%). The incidence of AKI among patients with admission CaP < 22, 22 to < 27, 27 to < 32, 32 to < 37, 37 to < 42, and ≥42 mg2/dL2was 11.1%, 12.4%, 14.9%, 15.2%, 17.5%, and 19.9%, respectively. After adjusting for potential confounders, a CaP ≥37 mg2/dL2was associated with an increased risk of developing AKI with OR of 1.53 (CI 1.19–1.96) and 1.63 (CI 1.25–2.14) in patients with admission CaP 37- < 42 and ≥42, respectively. Subgroup analysis based on eGFR consistently demonstrated that CaP ≥37 mg2/dL2was associated with an increased risk of developing AKI in both chronic kidney disease (CKD) and non-CKD patients.Conclusion: Elevated admission CaP was independently associated with an increased risk for in-hospital AKI.

Development and implementation of sepsis alert systems is challenging, particularly outside the monitored intensive care unit (ICU) setting. Barriers to wider use of sepsis alerts include evolving clinical definitions of sepsis, information overload, and alert fatigue, due to suboptimal alert performance. Outside the ICU, barriers include differences in health care delivery models, charting behaviors, and availability of electronic data. Current evidence does not support routine use of sepsis alert systems in clinical practice. Continuous improvement in the afferent and efferent aspects will help translate theoretic advantages into measurable patient benefit.

To assess the epidemiology of nonoptimal hyponatremia correction and to identify associated morbidity and in-hospital mortality.

To develop and test an automated surveillance algorithm (sepsis “sniffer”) for the detection of severe sepsis and monitoring failure to recognize and treat severe sepsis in a timely manner.

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is a rare breast malignancy that is associated with poor long-term outcomes despite aggressive surgical and chemotherapeutic interventions. We recently treated a 56-year-old woman with right-sided IBC and biopsy-proven cutaneous metastases to her back and left breast. She underwent chemotherapy, bilateral modified radical mastectomy, and radiation therapy. One year after diagnosis, she is currently disease-free based on positron-emission tomography (PET) imaging and repeat skin biopsies. To provide insight into the management of IBC, we present this interesting case with a reflection on important lessons to be learned.