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Ultrasound is an essential tool in the management of the nephrological patient allowing the diagnosis, monitoring and performance of kidney intervention. However, the usefulness of ultrasound in the hands of the nephrologist is not limited exclusively to the ultrasound study of the kidney. By ultrasound, the nephrologist can also optimize the management of arteriovenous fistula for hemodialysis, measure cardiovascular risk (mean intimate thickness), implant central catheters for ultrasound-guided HD, as well as the patient's volemia using basic cardiac ultrasound, ultrasound of the cava inferior vein and lungs. From the Working Group on Interventional Nephrology (GNDI) of the Spanish Society of Nephrology (SEN) we have prepared this consensus document that summarizes the main applications of ultrasound to Nephrology, including the necessary basic technical requirements, the framework normative and the level of training of nephrologists in this area. The objective of this work is to promote the inclusion of ultrasound, both diagnostic and interventional, in the usual clinical practice of the nephrologist and in the Nephrology Services portfolio with the final objective of offering diligent, efficient and comprehensive management to the nephrological patient., (Copyright © 2020 Sociedad Española de Nefrología. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

Background: Recently there has been a progressive loss of specialty related skills for nephrologists. Among the skills we find the kidney biopsy that has a central role in diagnosis of renal parenchymal disease. One of the causes might be the belief that the kidney biopsy should be performed only in larger Centers which can rely on the presence of a renal pathologist and on nephrologists with a large experience. This trend may increase in the short term procedural safety but may limit the chance of in training nephrologists to become confident with the technique., Methods: We evaluated renal biopsies performed from May 2002 to October 2016 in our Hospital, a mid-sized facility to determine whether the occurrence of complications would be comparable to those reported in literature and whether the increase in the number of biopsy performing physicians including nephrology fellows which took place since January 2012, after our Nephrology Unit became academic, would be associated to an increase of complications or a reduction of diagnostic power of renal biopsies. Three hundred thirty seven biopsies were evaluated. Patients underwent ultrasound guided percutaneous renal biopsy using a 14 G core needle loaded on a biopsy gun. Observation lasted for 24 h, we evaluated hemoglobin levels 6 and 24 h and kidney ultrasound 24 h after the biopsy., Results: Complications occurred in 18.7% of patients, of these only 1,2% were major complications. Complications were more common in female (28%) compared to male patients (14,8%) (p = 0.004). We found no correlation between diagnosis, kidney function and complication rates; hypertension was not associated to a higher risk in complications. The increase of biopsy performing personnel was not associated to an increase in complication rates (18,7% both pre and post 2012) or with an increase of major complications (1.2% vs 1,2%)., Conclusions: Kidney biopsy can be safely performed in mid-sized hospitals. Safety and adequacy are guaranteed even if the procedure is performed by a larger number of less experienced nephrologists as long as under tutor supervision, thus kidney biopsy should become an integral part of a nephrology fellow training allowing more widespread diffusion of this technique.

The management of kidney stones has always been a big problem for doctors of all time. Goeury Duvivier in his masterpiece "Guide des malades atteints daffections de voie urinaires ou des organes de la gnration chez lhomme et chez la femme shows us the different kind of diseases which affects the urinary tract and in particular highlights the list of the main methods that during the history characterized the treatment of renal calculi. Duvivier gives us the descriptions of invasive innovative techniques of the time, the Taille, the Lithotripsy and Lithotomy and their negative effects or limits for each technique. He also describes the different kind of palliative methods used in the 19th century to treat renal lithiasis and the clinical case reports of the time.

The insertion of non-tunneled temporary hemodialysis catheters (NTHCs) is a core procedure of nephrology practice. While urgent dialysis may be life-saving, mechanical and infectious complications related to the insertion of NTHCs can be fatal. In recent years, various techniques that reduce mechanical and infectious complications related to NTHCs have been described. Evidence now suggests that ultrasound guidance should be used for internal jugular and femoral vein NTHC insertions. The implementation of evidence-based infection-control 'bundles' for central venous catheter insertions has significantly reduced the incidence of bloodstream infections in the intensive care unit setting with important implications for how nephrologists should insert NTHCs. In addition, the Cathedia Study has provided the first high-level evidence about the optimal site of NTHC insertion, as it relates to the risk of infection and catheter dysfunction. Incorporating these evidence-based techniques into a simulation-based program for training nephrologists in NTHC insertion has been shown to be an effective way to improve the procedural skills of nephrology trainees. Nonetheless, there are some data suggesting nephrologists have been slow to adopt evidence-based practices surrounding NTHC insertion. This mini review focuses on techniques that reduce the complications of NTHCs and are relevant to the practice and training of nephrologists.

The use of stents has become common practice in various interventional fields. The purpose of this article is to provide the interventionalist with an understanding of the basic structure stent. We describe the etymology, the classification and describe various terms used by engineers as they strive to develop that "ideal" stent. We also describe the fabrication process briefly and finally elaborate on the characteristic "build and cut" of some commonly used stents., (© 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Glomerulonephritides together create a heterogenic group of supposedly immunologically mediated diseases of glomeruli. They still belong among the most frequent causes of chronic renal failure. Detection of podocytes in urine might serve as an important marker of glomerulonephritides activity. The aim of this study was to develop a novel flow cytometric method for the detection of podocyte fragments and podocytes in urine and assess its possible use in clinical practice. We placed emphasis on the improvement of pre-analytic phase. To suppress the autofluorescence of the background, blocking solutions and magnetic separation were used. An additional surface marker CD10 (nephrilysin) was used together with routinely used podocalyxin (PCX) in order to achieve better identification of podocytes. Based on the surface marker expression, three different element types were identified in the urine samples: PCX+/CD10+ elements (EL) (supposedly podocytes), PCX-/CD10+ EL (supposedly parietal epithelial cells) and PCX+ EL. We examined a total of 36 patients who underwent renal biopsy (non-glomerular nephropathy, MGN, FSGS, IgAN, AAV and MPGN) and 27 healthy controls. Negative results were found in non-glomerular nephropathy and in MGN. In patients with FSGS and IgAN, the levels of urine elements were slightly increased. The highest levels of all elements were found in AAV and MPGN. Our first results suggest that flow cytometric detection may distinguish between glomerular and nonglomerular diseases and that the levels of urine elements might correlate with the degree of glomerular destruction.

Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) has been firstly performed with centrifugation devices used in blood banking procedures. Nowadays, TPE is increasingly performed in intensive care units using hemodiafiltration generators that ensure better efficiency and simplicity. However, prescription for the different medical pathologies depends on weak evidence-based recommendations, and is often guided by the clinician's own experience. In this review, we briefly recall the rationale of TPE prescription before discussing the evidence level of common indications of TPE in nephrology. Currently, strong evidence-based data for the benefit of TPE is clearly demonstrated in renal diseases such as hemolytic uremic syndrome, anti-glomerular basement membrane vasculitis, and recurrent glomerulonephritis after kidney transplantation and management of humoral renal allograft rejection in high-risk recipients. However, the other indications of TPE, such as renal vasculitis associated with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies, mixed cryoglobulinemia, periarteritis nodosa, and acute renal failure in myeloma are still controversial. Finally, TPE have been found to be clearly inefficient in lupus nephritis, except for patients with associated thrombotic mic-roangiopathy or catastrophic antiphospholipid antibodies syndrome. More randomized clinical trials are required to precisely place TPE in the management of renal diseases. Meanwhile, the decision to use this burdensome and costly therapy should be individualized according to its proven benefits and potential complications.

Nephro-urological interventions developed in adult practice are highly transferable to the pediatric setting, and their use has widened the role of interventional radiology in the management of renal tract pathology in spheres such as oncology and urolithiasis. The emerging evidence is that these procedures are safe and effective in children and their use should be encouraged. Many of the techniques are similar to those used in adults. There are, however, subtle but important pediatric tips and tricks available that serve to minimize risk to the child and increase the chances of technical success. This article covers the indications, techniques, aftercare, and complications for renal biopsy, nephrostomy insertion, percutaneous nephrolithomy procedures, and ureteric stent insertion. Renal biopsy and nephrostomy insertion are commonly performed in most pediatric centers. Percutaneous nephrolithomy may be limited to centers with a significant urology workload, but are complex procedures ideally performed as joint cases between urology and interventional radiology., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Medicine in the technological era acquired many of the characteristics that concurrently marked other fields. So, by adopting procedures based on information obtained with instruments and devices, medicine developed an approach to illness that transformed it into a special form of technology. The collective effect of instrumentation deserves consideration and offers the historian opportunities for interpreting the interaction between physician and his patients in other than scientific and technological terms. The very construction of instruments and devices depends on the Author's ideas assembled with the basic theories of the time. For instance, at the end of the nineteenth century, when medical instruments became essential, the bacterial origin of diseases revolutionised their construction and application. In this context, the invention and use of the microscope became an outstanding feature of the clinical approach by disclosing the cellular universe. The microscope had become crucial in locating some major causes of physical suffering and death in man, and was considered the pre-eminent diagnostic instrument in medicine. In the nephrological field, the microscope drew the physician into a universe of physical changes that were concealed to the naked eye. The microscope made possible the verification of some of Bright's brilliant ideas, something that helped physicians classify glomerulonephritis. Many nephrologists confessed "how few things are established in this subject (nephrology) and how many more difficulties are established, we have learned by experience with the microscope". The modesty of this claim is striking. In nephrology, as in other fields, the admission of ignorance proved to be the beginning of wisdom. This wisdom, based on the admission of ignorance and assembled through the commitment and ingenuity of the pioneers of the dialysis treatment, led to the treatment of end-stage renal disease and the guarantee of success. The technique of haemodialysis has been enriched by the new lexicon, which expresses different ways and ideas on the removal of the solute.

Microscopes and artificial kidneys have greatly influenced both diagnosis and therapy of renal diseases. Nonetheless, in tracing the influence of instrumentation on nephrology, as revealed by daily activity, we have to recognise the influence of science upon medical instruments. It is for this reason that, besides strictly clinical factors, the scientific factors that contributed to the development of modern nephrology have received considerable attention. Nobody can use an artificial kidney without bearing in mind the contribution of many segments of science. Each segment has a hypothesis in its historical growth, development and decline. The notion that the advancement of science was made possible by the increasing reliance measurements and other quantitative procedure is hardly a novel one. Moreover, it is rather obvious that the experimental process and the use of instrumentation played an important role in the history of nephrology. Measurements, experiments and the use of instruments were interrelated and represented many phases of the improvements made in diagnosis and therapeutics. Naturally, in the history and epistemology of nephrology instrumentation we find conceptual mistakes and erroneous approaches to the biological reality. However, according to Popper's teachings, mistakes are good for science as they give an extra kick to its growth and development. Medical instrumentation is an assembly of scientific theories; it also controls medical theories and promotes the development of new ones. In addition, it changed our approach to the patient. In the pre-physical era, medical practice was almost entirely an intellectual process based on medical theories that the patient was not expected to understand. In the period of physical examinations the physician included the sensual dimension (oral and visual process) and made direct contact with the patient. In the instrumentation period we experience the third type of examination, in which the physician went back to the position of having less contact with the patient. This separation is reminiscent of the pre-physical diagnosis.

Microscopy has always played an important role in renal research as a tool to visualize events occurring at the surface of the kidney and as a method to investigate intracellular ion activity and membrane transport. Thanks to the recent advances in fluorochromes as ionic detector agents and as a means to label antibodies, microscopy will maintain its role at the forefront of renal research in the future. This article presents an overview of fluorescence microscopy and then focuses on some of the present applications of microscopy to exam renal epithelial tissues. Other areas covered are the pros and cons of various techniques and their applications to renal research.

Medical science in the 2nd half of the 19th century proceeded in a stepwise fashion, when the development of new techniques permitted the evaluation of living processes by direct microscopic or endoscopic inspection, as well as by quantitative measurements of the underlying physical and chemical forces. Ludwig, Henle, Helmholtz and DuBois-Reymond all contributed in different ways to the evolution of medicine and physiology into natural sciences, freed from romantic, philosophic speculation. Nephrology benefitted from this development and from the contributions of the non-nephrologists to natural science.

We describe a 24-cm long coaxial needle that has a 15-cm, beveled outer sleeve and accepts a 0.038-inch (0.097-cm) guidewire. A Luer-loc fastens the outer needle to the inner one. The outer sleeve has markings etched 1 cm apart to indicate the distance from the tip of the inner needle and that of the outer sleeve. This needle was designed to be used for percutaneous nephrostomy, particularly in the infant and in nondilated urinary systems.