Contributions to nephrology
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There are now powerful compensatory therapies to counteract kidney deficiency and the prognosis of patients with acute renal failure is mainly related to the severity of the initial disease. Renal failure is accompanied by an increase in both severity and duration of the catabolic phase leading to stronger catabolic consequences. The specificity of the metabolic and nutritional disorders in the most severely ill patients is the consequence of three additive phenomena: (1) the metabolic response to stress and to organ dysfunction, (2) the lack of normal kidney function and (3) the interference with the renal treatment (hemodialysis, hemofiltration or both, continuous or intermittent, lactate or bicarbonate buffer, etc.). As in many other diseases of similar severity, adequate nutritional support in acutely ill patients with ARF is of great interest in clinical practice, although the real improvement as a result of this support is still difficult to assess in terms of morbidity or mortality.
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The pathogenesis of acute kidney injury (AKI) is complex and varies to some extent based on the particular cause. Inflammation contributes to this pathophysiology in a variety of contexts. Inflammation can result in reduction in local blood flow to the outer medulla with adverse consequences on tubule function and viability. ⋯ In collaboration with Serhan et al. we recently reported that, in response to bilateral ischemia/reperfusion injury, mouse kidneys produce D series resolvins (RvDs) and PD1 [J Immunol 2006;177:5902-5911]. Administration of RvDs or PD1 to mice prior to, or subsequent to, ischemia resulted in a reduction in functional and morphological kidney injury. Understanding how these anti-inflammatory processes are regulated may provide insight into how we might intervene to facilitate and enhance them so that we might prevent or mitigate the devastating consequences of AKI.
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Implementing continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) in a intensive care unit (ICU) is a somewhat difficult issue and quiet different from starting a new ventilation mode or a new hemodynamic device. It may indeed require an on-call medical emergency CRRT team as expertise in this field is really a key issue to success. Education for the nursing team is another key point, especially as ongoing or continuous education is changing very quickly. ⋯ Therefore, a nursing group composed of 5-8 nurses who would be taught beforehand was started, and this dedicated group would then teach the rest CRRT Technology and Logistics 355 of the staff nurses. This group exists today and has at least 6-8 meetings/year in which all the problems that must be faced in the implementation of CRRT are dealt with. Here all the steps made by our and other units in this field will be discussed, including an overview of the various protocols implemented and a description of our dedicated nursing group with regard to CRRT.
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Sepsis and multiple organ failure are complex processes that result from dysregulation of the immune response and its associated hematological, hemodynamic and metabolic disturbances. ⋯ Sepsis is a complex process whose expression and treatment are just now being defined. Treatments that minimize the overall host response still represent the most effective strategies.
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Fortunately with improvements in initial medical resuscitation, such as the avoidance of nephrotoxins, the incidence of acute kidney injury requiring renal support in patients with acute traumatic brain injury remains low. However the incidence of cerebral hemorrhage in patients on chronic dialysis programs appears to be increasing. By carefully adapting renal replacement to minimize cardiovascular instability and reduce the rate of change of serum osmolality, patient survival in this group of critically ill patients is increasing and starting to approach that of patients with traumatic brain injury without kidney injury.