Pediatric liver failure patients frequently develop multiple organ failure and require continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) as part of supportive therapy in the pediatric intensive care unit. While many centers employ no anticoagulation for fear of bleeding complications, balanced coagulation disturbance predisposes these patients to clotting as well as bleeding, making maintenance of longer circuit life to deliver adequate dialysis clearance challenging. Regional citrate anticoagulation (RCA) is an attractive option as it avoids systemic anticoagulation, but since citrate metabolism is impaired in liver failure, concerns about toxicity has limited its use. Pediatric data on RCA with liver failure is very scarce. We aimed to establish safety and efficacy of RCA in pediatric liver failure patients on CRRT. Retrospective review of pediatric patients with liver failure receiving CRRT over 30 months. Demographic data and CRRT related data were collected by chart review. Citrate accumulation (CA) was defined as total calcium (mg/dl) /ionized calcium (mmol/L) ratio >2.5 for > 48 hours. Efficacy was assessed by filter life. Safety was assessed by frequency of adverse events ((AEs) defined as bleeding, hemodynamic instability, arrhythmias). Fifty-one patients (median age 3.5 (IQR 0.75–14.2) years) received 861 CRRT days; 70% experienced at least one episode of CA, only 37% were recorded as such in the medical record. AE rate was 93/1000 CRRT days and did not differ between CA days and others. Median filter life was 66 hours (IQR 29–74); 63% filters lasted longer than 48 hrs. Though common, CA was not associated with increased AEs on in pediatric liver failure patients on CRRT receiving RCA. Filter life was adequate. RCA appears an effective anticoagulation for CRRT in pediatric liver failure. Application of a structured definition would increase recognition of CA to allow timely intervention.
Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is generally considered the preferred extracorporeal therapy for neonates with acute kidney injury (AKI). However, there are situations when PD is not suitable, such as in patients with previous abdominal surgery, hyperammonemia and significant ascites or anasarca. Additionally, with a need to start PD soon after catheter placement, there is increased risk of PD catheter leak and infection. Extracorporeal continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) is challenging in severely ill neonates as it requires obtaining adequately sized central venous access to accommodate adequate blood flow rates and also adaptation of a CRRT machine meant for older children and adults. In addition, ultrafiltration often cannot be set in sufficiently small increments to be suitable for neonates. Although CRRT practices can be modified to fit the needs of infants and neonates, there is a need for a device designed specifically for this population. Until that becomes available, providing the highest level of care for neonates with AKI is dependent on the shared experiences of members of the pediatric nephrology community.Keywords Extracorporeal continuous renal replacement therapy . Acute kidney injury . Neonates . nRIFLE . Continuous venovenous hemodiafiltrationIn a recent article in Pediatric Nephrology, Lee and Cho review their continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) experience in 34 neonates with acute kidney injury (AKI) [1]. Although single center and retrospective, there are several noteworthy characteristics of this study. The authors standardize neonatal AKI using the neonatal RIFLE (nRIFLE) criteria to define and stratify severity of AKI. Of the 34 neonates included in the study, 44 % were born preterm (25-36 weeks), with 60 % of these preterm infants being either extremely or very low birth weight. All patients had AKI, and 24 patients met the nRIFLE class F (Failure) criterion. Survival was 50 %. Continuous venovenous hemodiafiltration (CVVHDF) with Prisma or Prismaflex (Gambro/Baxter Int., Lund, Sweden) dialysis machines and M10 (50 ml) or HF20 (55 ml) filters was used for all CRRT treatments. Access was via internal jugular 6.5-French (Fr) hemodialysis catheters. Mean filter life was 51.1 h. Similar to other studies in pediatric CRRT patients [2-4, 5], fluid overload (FO), defined by the percentage weight gain over weight at admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), was independently associated with mortality [6]. Neonatal studies have reported an FO of >15-20 % to be associated with poor outcome defined as need for CRRT, prolonged NICU stay, time to extubation or death within 30 days postcardiothoracic surgery [7,8]. Interestingly, this study by Lee and Cho [1] reports a much higher FO cut-off of 30 % being associated with poor outcomes, including 100 % mortality for patients reaching an FO of >30 %. The authors propose higher body surface area, calorie consumption and insensible water loss in neonates as a possible explanation. They address this issue by using actual weig...
We present the details of three children with hypercalcemia-induced acute kidney injury (AKI). After traditional therapy with fluids, loop diuretics, steroids and calcitonin had failed to correct the hypercalcemia, they were given treatment with low doses of intravenous (i.v.) pamidronate, which resulted in normalization of serum calcium and kidney function. In one child Doppler renal ultrasound revealed dampened arterial blood flow, which resolved with normalization of serum calcium. On the basis of cumulative data and our experience, we suggest that i.v. application of bisphosphonates be moved from the second to the first line of treatment of hypercalcemic AKI.
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