Journal of the American Society of Nephrology : JASN
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J. Am. Soc. Nephrol. · Jul 1996
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialDopamine does not enhance furosemide-induced natriuresis in patients with congestive heart failure.
The objective of this study was to determine whether the addition of low-dose (renal-dose) dopamine to furosemide therapy enhances natriuresis in patients with compensated congestive heart failure, New York Heart Association Class II or III. We performed a randomized, controlled, open-label, crossover study wherein urinary sodium, creatinine, and furosemide excretion rates and GFR determined by inulin clearance rates were measured during each of three treatment interventions: furosemide infusion alone, dopamine infusion alone, and furosemide and dopamine infusions administered concurrently. Six of eight recruited subjects (4 male, 2 female) were able to complete the study. ⋯ No significant additional increment in natriuresis occurred when dopamine and furosemide were administered concurrently (253.8 +/- 73.6 mEq/3 h). Neither dopamine, furosemide, or their coadministration affected GFR. In conclusion, infusion of low-dose dopamine does not enhance furosemide-induced urinary sodium excretion rates in patients with compensated congestive heart failure, New York Heart Association Class II or III.
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J. Am. Soc. Nephrol. · Nov 1995
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical TrialLife-sustaining treatment preferences of hemodialysis patients: implications for advance directives.
The purpose of this study was to describe the life-sustaining treatment preferences of dialysis patients and to compare the acceptability of two generic and a disease-specific advance directive (AD). Of 532 potentially eligible hemodialysis patients, 95 (17.9%) participated in the study. These patients completed two generic (the Centre for Bioethics Living Will and the Medical Directive) and one disease-specific (the Dialysis Living Will) AD in a randomized cross-over trial. ⋯ Health states and illness severity, far more than treatment descriptions, influence preferences. Dialysis patients should be offered a generic AD, and some generic AD are more acceptable than others. Only a minority of dialysis patients will complete any AD, but the completion of written AD forms is only one element in the process of advance care planning.
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Continuous hemofiltration (CH) is being used in increasing numbers of pediatric intensive care unit patients. Experience with 114 CH treatments in 98 critically ill children from March 1988 to March 1993 is presented in this study. Ages ranged from 1 day to 23 yr (mean +/- SE = 7.1 +/- 0.7 yr), and 54% of patients were male. ⋯ Survival to hospital discharge was better in patients who did not receive pressors (P < 0.005) and in patients treated with combined ultrafiltration and dialysis (CAVH-D, CVVH-D) compared with ultrafiltration alone (CAVH, CVVH) (P < 0.005), but was not notably affected by patient age, sex, use of anticoagulation, filter life span, blood pump-assisted versus spontaneous CH, or duration of therapy. Filter life span was not affected by use of anticoagulation, but was remarkably longer in patients with arteriovenous versus venovenous CH (P < 0.004). It was concluded that: (1) empirical anticoagulation of patients treated with CH is not necessary; (2) children with a minority of underlying diseases and those requiring pressor support at initiation of CH appear to have relatively poor survival rates despite the technically effective use of CH; and (3) the addition of countercurrent dialysis to routine CH may enhance patient survival to hospital discharge.
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J. Am. Soc. Nephrol. · May 1995
Review Case ReportsCatastrophic secondary antiphospholipid syndrome with concomitant antithrombin III deficiency.
The association between thrombotic events and primary or secondary antiphospholipid/anticardiolipin syndrome is now well recognized. A spectrum of renal involvement ranging from glomerular thrombosis to renal infarction has been described. ⋯ The patient had an acquired antithrombin III deficiency, and the combination of secondary antiphospholipid syndrome with accompanying antithrombin III deficiency predisposed to thrombosis. Several mechanisms by which antiphospholipid/anticardiolipin antibodies cause thrombosis have been proposed and are briefly reviewed.
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Clearance data are customarily indexed to body surface area of 1.73 m2. This study examined whether this standard procedure gives correct values for renal perfusion in obese subjects. In 215 subjects who varied in age, gender, height, weight, obesity, and mean arterial blood pressure, RPF was determined by measuring the clearance of (131I)para-aminohippuric acid. ⋯ A separate repetition of the whole analysis for both normotensive (N = 55) and hypertensive subjects (N = 160) revealed a result similar to that found for the whole group. Thus, our results show that obesity was not a determinant of RPF, and when related to body surface area, inappropriately low values of RPF were calculated for obese patients. It was concluded that RPF values correlate with height and not with surface area in obese subjects.