Blood purification
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Review
The role of peripheral ultrafiltration in the management of acute decompensated heart failure.
Heart failure is a common and highly morbid condition associated with recurrent hospitalizations for disease decompensation. As such, heart failure is a growing public health concern from both a utilization and cost perspective. The current standard of care for the management of volume overload symptoms is underpinned by a diuretic-based treatment regimen. ⋯ Initial research trials have shown that this treatment modality results in improved clinical, biochemical and quality of life parameters. Moreover, these benefits are durable over the long term with decreased recidivism and health care utilization at 1 year. It remains unclear whether these benefits will translate into hard cardiovascular endpoints; greater adoption of this technology coupled with newer clinical trials will help researchers and clinicians identify the optimal strategy for treating symptoms of volume overload among heart failure patients.
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International survey on the management of acute kidney injury in critically ill patients: year 2007.
Several aspects of acute kidney injury (AKI) management, including medical approaches to AKI patients and the optimal form of renal replacement therapy (RRT), remain a matter of debate. ⋯ New classifications such as the RIFLE criteria did improve the well-known uncertainty about the definition of AKI. Awareness of the prescription and standardization of an adequate treatment dose seemed to have increased in recent years, even if there is still a significant level of uncertainty on this specific issue. Several concerns and RRT complications, such as bleeding and anticoagulation strategies, still need further exploration and development.
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Review Comparative Study
Citrate anticoagulation for continuous renal replacement therapy in the critically ill.
Heparins are used for circuit anticoagulation during continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT). Because heparins cause systemic anticoagulation, they increase the risk of bleeding. Citrate provides regional anticoagulation. Since citrate is a buffer as well, its use has metabolic consequences. The preferential use of citrate therefore remains controversial. ⋯ During critical illness, regional anticoagulation with citrate for CRRT seems superior to heparin anticoagulation concerning tolerance and safety, mainly due to less bleeding. Whether circuit survival is better depends on the modality. In addition, citrate seems to improve patient and kidney survival. This finding needs to be confirmed. Citrate seems to confer a specific benefit in severe organ failure and sepsis. To what extent citrate protects or heparin does harm in the setting of multiple organ failure needs to be unraveled.
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Review Comparative Study
Peritonitis - does peritoneal dialysis modality make a difference?
Peritonitis remains a significant problem for patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD). There is a certain amount of controversy as to whether peritoneal modality is itself a risk factor for peritonitis, with one modality higher than another. ⋯ At the present time, the best data suggest that use of APD with Luer lock connections versus CAPD with a disconnect system results in a reduction in peritonitis risk. More studies are needed on this important topic, particularly the possible advantage of initiating PD with a dry day in those with residual kidney function. This question would be best studied with an RCT comparing peritonitis rates in three groups of patients, i.e. those initiating dialysis on CCPD, CAPD and APD with a dry day.
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Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a frequent clinical problem in critically ill patients and the associated mortality is high. Standard serum and urine biomarkers are insensitive and nonspecific for the detection of kidney injury in its early stages which limits the therapeutic options and may compromise the outcome. The study presents new candidates for biochemical markers of AKI, with potentially high sensitivity and specificity, causally related to its pathogenesis and development. ⋯ The most promising of the new serum AKI markers are cystatin C, neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin and uric acid. Urinary AKI markers may be classified as enzymes released from damaged tubular cells (alkaline phosphatase, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, alanine aminopeptidase, isoenzymes of glutathione transferase, N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase), low-molecular-weight proteins (alpha(1)-microglobulin, beta(2)-microglobulin, retinol-binding protein, cystatin C) and proteins specifically produced in the kidney and associated with the development of AKI [cysteine-rich protein 61, neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin, kidney injury molecule 1, cytokines and chemokines (Gro-alpha, IL-18), and structural and functional proteins of renal tubules (F-actin, Na(+)/H(+) exchange isoform 3)]. Based on the different expression of these markers, using a panel of serum and urine markers may potentially help to distinguish between various types of insults, establish the duration and severity of injury, predict the clinical outcome and help to monitor response to treatment in AKI.