Nefrología : publicación oficial de la Sociedad Española Nefrologia
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Hemodialysis patients have a greater risk of infection than individuals not on dialysis. Procalcitonin has been shown to rise in bacterial from but widely studied in hemodialysis patients. The present study evaluates procalcitonin as an early predictor of infection in this population. ⋯ Procalcitonin is an early predictor of infection in the first 30 days in hemodialysis patients. However, in relation to the long-term prognosis, C-reactive protein is the most important independent predictor of infection.
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The M-type phospholipase A2 receptor (PLA2R) has been identified as one of the target antigens of the autoimmune response in idiopathic membranous nephropathy (MN). The prevalence of anti-PLA2R antibodies in patients with idiopathic MN is around 70% but this varies in accordance with geographic region, and until present, anti-PLA2R has not been shown to be associated with any particular clinical profile of the disease. ⋯ The techniques employed to determine anti-PLA2R in patients with MN are highly specific for the diagnosis of idiopathic forms of the glomerular disease. The frequency with which patients with MN and anti-PLA2R were identified is similar to that reported in previous studies. Staining by immunohistochemistry is the most sensitive method for detecting cases of MN associated with the presence of anti-PLA2R antibodies. The IIF and ELISA techniques allow circulating anti-PLA2R antibodies to be detected in most patients with renal deposits, but they may very infrequently have false negative results. The concordance of these tests is high. Patients with idiopathic MN and anti-PLA2R antibody renal deposits have higher proteinuria than patients that are anti-PLA2R negative, but the differences have little clinical importance.