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Background: procalcitonin is a valuable marker in the diagnosis of bacterial infections; however, the impairment of renal function can influence its diagnostic precision. The objective of this study is to evaluate the differential behaviour of procalcitonin, as well as its usefulness in the diagnosis of postoperative pulmonary infection after cardiac surgery, depending on the presence or absence of impaired renal function. Materials and methods: A total of 805 adult patients undergoing cardiac surgery with extracorporeal circulation (CBP) were prospectively recruited, comparing the behaviour of biomarkers between the groups with and without postoperative pneumonia and according to the presence or absence of renal dysfunction. Results: Pulmonary infection was diagnosed in 42 patients (5.21%). In total, 228 patients (28.32%) presented postoperative renal dysfunction. Procalcitonin was significantly higher in infected patients, even in the presence of renal dysfunction. The optimal procalcitonin threshold differed markedly in patients with renal dysfunction compared to patients without renal dysfunction (1 vs. 0.78 ng/mL p < 0.05). The diagnostic accuracy of procalcitonin increased significantly when the procalcitonin threshold was adapted to renal function. Conclusions: Procalcitonin is an accurate marker of postoperative infection in cardiac surgery, even in the presence of renal dysfunction. Renal function is an important determinant of procalcitonin levels and, therefore, its diagnostic thresholds must be adapted in the presence of renal dysfunction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a critical complication of liver transplants, of which non-renal risk factors are not fully understood yet. This study aimed to reveal pre- and post-transplant risk factors for CKD (<60 mL/min/1.73 m2), examining liver recipients with functionally intact kidneys one month after grafting using nationwide cohort data. Baseline risk factors were analyzed with multivariable Cox regression analyses and post-transplant risk factors were investigated with the time-dependent Cox model and matched analyses of time-conditional propensity scores. Of the 2274 recipients with a one-month eGFR ≥ 60 mL/min/1.73 m2, 494 (22.3%) developed CKD during a mean follow-up of 36.6 ± 14.4 months. Age, female sex, lower body mass index, pre-transplant diabetes mellitus, and lower performance status emerged as baseline risk factors for CKD. Time-dependent Cox analyses revealed that recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (HR = 1.93, 95% CI 1.06–3.53) and infection (HR = 1.44, 95% CI 1.12–1.60) were significant post-transplant risk factors for CKD. Patients who experienced one of those factors showed a significantly higher risk of subsequent CKD compared with the matched controls who lacked these features (p = 0.013 for recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma, and p = 0.003 for infection, respectively). This study clarifies pre- and post-transplant non-renal risk factors, which lead to renal impairment after LT independently from patients' renal functional reserve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tacrolimus monotherapy is accepted as a feasible option during early post-liver transplantation as per current international consensus guidelines. However, its effects in the recent era of reduced tacrolimus (TAC) and mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) remain unclear. Liver recipients who either received TAC monotherapy from the treatment onset or switched from TAC/MMF to TAC-mono within 12 months (TAC-mono group; n = 991) were chronologically matched to patients who continued to receive TAC/MMF (TAC/MMF group; n = 991) at the corresponding time points on time-conditional propensity scores. Outcomes within 12 months after matched time points were compared. Biopsy-proven rejection (TAC/MMF: 3.5% vs. TAC-mono: 2.6%; p = 0.381) and graft failure (0.2% vs. 0.7%; p = 0.082) were similar in both groups. However, the decline in eGFR was 3.1 mL/min/1.73 m2 (95% CI: 0.8–5.3) greater at six months (p = 0.008) and 2.4 mL/min/1.73 m2 (95% CI: −0.05–4.9) greater at 12 months (p = 0.048) after the matched time points in TAC-mono group than that in TAC/MMF group. TAC trough levels were also higher in the TAC-mono group throughout the study period. TAC-mono within 12 months after liver transplantation is immunologically safe. However, it can increase the required TAC dose and the decline in renal function than that in TAC/MMF combination therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) or rheumatoid arthritis (RA) commonly develop renal dysfunction due to either systemic inflammation or drug-related nephrotoxicity. This study compared renal function parameters in patients with PsA versus those with RA and examined the impact of clinical remission or disease relapse on renal function. Methods: This single-center retrospective study was conducted at the University Hospital of Messina, Italy. Adult patients (aged ≥18 years) with PsA or RA who attended the rheumatology clinic within the past 6 months were identified from electronic medical records. Results: In total, 45 patients with PsA (n = 23) or RA (n = 22) were included. The mean (standard deviation) age was 55.6 (15.9) years, and 78% of participants were female. Patient age, renal function, and medical history were generally similar between the two disease groups, although significantly more RA patients were smokers, and more PsA patients had comorbid hypertension. The prevalence of estimated glomerular filtration rate [eGFR] ≤90 mL/min/1.73 m2 at 1, 6, and 12 months of treatment ranged from 38.5% to 58.3% in the PsA group and from 45.5% to 54.5% in the RA group and did not significantly differ between disease groups. Clinical remission did not appear to affect renal function parameters in either disease group; however, relapse was associated with significantly higher serum creatinine levels in PsA patients at the same timepoint. Conclusion: In this study, patients with PsA and RA had a similar prevalence of renal function parameter abnormalities over 12 months of treatment. Disease relapse may impact renal function in patients with PsA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to clarify the relative contribution of elevated left ventricle (LV) filling pressure (FP) estimated by pulmonary venous (PV) and mitral flow, transesophageal Doppler recording (TEE), and other extracardiac factors like obesity and renal insufficiency (KI) to exercise capacity (ExC) evaluated by cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPX) in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). During the CPX test, 119 patients (pts) with DCM underwent both peak VO2 consumption and then TEE with color-guided pulsed-wave Doppler recording of PVF and transmitral flow. In 78 patients (65%), peak VO2 was normal or mildly reduced (>14 mL/kg/min) (group 1) while it was markedly reduced (≤14 mL/kg/min) in 41 (group 2). In univariate analysis, systolic fraction (S Fract), a predictor of elevated pre-a LV diastolic FP, appeared to be the best diastolic parameter predicting a significantly reduced peak VO2. Logistic regression analysis identified five parameters yielding a unique, statistically significant contribution in predicting reduced ExC: creatinine clearance < 52 mL/min (odds ratio (OR) = 7.4, p = 0.007); female gender (OR = 7.1, p = 0.004); BMI > 28 (OR = 5.8, p = 0.029), age > 62 years (OR = 5.5, p = 0.03), S Fract < 59% (OR = 4.9, p = 0.02). Conclusion: KI was the strongest predictor of reduced ExC. The other modifiable factors were obesity and severe LV diastolic dysfunction expressed by blunted systolic venous flow. Contrarily, LV ejection fraction was not predictive, confirming other previous studies. This has important clinical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microcirculatory dysfunction is associated with organ failure, poor response to vasoactive drugs and increased mortality in cirrhosis, but monitoring techniques are not established. We hypothesized that the chorioretinal structures of the eye could be visualized as a non-invasive proxy of the systemic microvasculature in cirrhosis and would correlate with renal dysfunction. Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) was performed to image the retina in n = 55 cirrhosis patients being assessed for liver transplantation. OCT parameters were compared with established cohorts of age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers (HV) and patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Retinal thickness, macular volume and choroidal thickness were significantly reduced relative to HV and comparable to CKD patients (macular volume: HV vs. cirrhosis mean difference 0.44 mm3 (95% CI 0.26–0.61), p ≤ 0.0001). Reduced retinal thickness and macular volume correlated with renal dysfunction in cirrhosis (macular volume vs. MDRD-6 eGFR r = 0.40, p = 0.006). Retinal changes had resolved substantially 6 weeks following transplantation. There was an inverse association between choroidal thickness and circulating markers of endothelial dysfunction (endothelin-1 r = −0.49, p ≤ 0.001; von Willebrand factor r = −0.32, p ≤ 0.05). Retinal OCT may represent a non-invasive window to the microcirculation in cirrhosis and a dynamic measure of renal and endothelial dysfunction. Validation in different cirrhosis populations is now required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frailty and sarcopenia increase the risk of complications and mortality when invasive treatment such as cardiac surgery is performed. Growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) involves various pathophysiological conditions including renal dysfunction, heart failure and cachexia. We investigated the pathophysiological roles of preoperative GDF-15 levels in cardiovascular surgery patients. Preoperative skeletal muscle index (SMI) determined by bioelectrical impedance analysis, hand-grip strength, 4 m gait speed, and anterior thigh muscle thickness (TMth) measured by echocardiography were assessed in 72 patients (average age 69.9 years) who underwent cardiovascular surgery. The preoperative serum GDF-15 concentration was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Circulating GDF-15 level was correlated with age, brain natriuretic peptide, and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). It was also negatively correlated with SMI, hand-grip strength, and anterior TMth. In multivariate analysis, eGFR and anterior TMth were the independent determinants of GDF-15 concentration even after adjusting for age, sex, and body mass index. Alternatively, the GDF-15 level was an independent determinant of eGFR and anterior TMth. We concluded that preoperative GDF-15 levels reflect muscle wasting as well as renal dysfunction in preoperative cardiovascular surgery patients. GDF-15 may be a novel biomarker for identify high-risk patients with muscle wasting and renal dysfunction before cardiovascular surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is growing evidence that non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a disease affecting not only the liver but also extrahepatic organs. Aim: To investigate whether in youths NAFLD is associated with extrahepatic complications such as subclinical atherosclerosis, cardiac abnormalities, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, decreased bone mineral density, renal dysfunction, obstructive sleep apnea, and polycystic ovary syndrome. Methods: We systematically reviewed PubMed; Scopus; Embase; and the Cochrane Library databases up to 28 February 2019 and assessed the quality of studies using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Results: Thirty-five articles were selected for this systematic review: fifteen (4627 participants) evaluated the association of NAFLD with subclinical atherosclerosis; four (969 participants) with cardiac abnormalities; two (550 participants) with hypertension; four (1328 participants) with diabetes; six (523 participants) with low bone mineral density; two (865 participants) with renal dysfunction; one with obstructive sleep apnea; and one with polycystic ovary syndrome. Most studies found that youths with NAFLD have increased features of subclinical atherosclerosis; as well as of cardiac alterations. Limited data were available to endorse a solid estimate of the prevalence of diabetes; low mineral density and renal dysfunction in the pediatric NAFLD population. Conclusion: NAFLD-related intermediate CVD outcomes can occur and be detected early in young populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]