AKI after TAVR is associated with worse outcomes. Blood transfusion should be administered restrictively in TAVR. Patients with CKD, PAD, prior CABG, and TA approach require close surveillance as they are at risk for AKI through seven days after TAVR. doi: 10.1111/jocs.12768 (J Card Surg 2016;31:416-422).

Trough levels of MPA do not show a strong correlation with AUC. In clinical situations where MPA levels are essential to guide therapy, an AUC0-4 would be a better indicator of the adequacy of treatment.

The metabolism of a typical Western diet generates 50-100 mEq of acid (H + ) per day, which must be excreted in the urine for the systemic acid-base to remain in balance. The 2 major mechanisms that are responsible for the renal elimination of daily acid under normal conditions are ammonium (NH 4 + ) excretion and titratable acidity. In the presence of systemic acidosis, ammonium excretion is intensified and becomes the crucial mechanism for the elimination of acid. The impairment in NH 4 + excretion is therefore associated with reduced acid excretion, which causes excess accumulation of acid in the body and consequently results in metabolic acidosis. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with the impairment in acid excretion and precipitation of metabolic acidosis, which has an adverse effect on the progression of CKD. Recent studies suggest that the progressive decline in renal ammonium excretion in CKD is an important determinant of the ensuing systemic metabolic acidosis and is an independent factor for predicting the worsening of kidney function. While these studies have been primarily performed in hypertensive individuals with CKD, a closer look at renal NH 4 + excretion in non-hypertensive individuals with CKD is warranted to ascertain its role in the progression of kidney disease.

We investigated the ability of serum uric acid (SUA) to predict laboratory tumor lysis syndrome (LTLS) and compared it to common laboratory variables, cytogenetic profiles, tumor markers and prediction models in acute myeloid leukemia patients. In this retrospective study patients were risk-stratified for LTLS based on SUA cut-off values and the discrimination ability was compared to current prediction models. The incidences of LTLS were 17.8%, 21% and 62.5% in the low, intermediate and high-risk groups, respectively. SUA was an independent predictor of LTLS (adjusted OR 1.12, CI95% 1.0–1.3, p = 0.048). The discriminatory ability of SUA, per ROC curves, to predict LTLS was superior to LDH, cytogenetic profile, tumor markers and the combined model but not to WBC (AUCWBC 0.679). However, in comparisons between high-risk SUA and high-risk WBC, SUA had superior discriminatory capability than WBC (AUCSUA 0.664 vs. AUCWBC 0.520; p <0.001). SUA also demonstrated better performance than the prediction models (high-risk SUAAUC 0.695, p<0.001). In direct comparison of high-risk groups, SUA again demonstrated superior performance than the prediction models (high-risk SUAAUC 0.668, p = 0.001) in predicting LTLS, approaching that of the combined model (AUC 0.685, p<0.001). In conclusion, SUA alone is comparable and highly predictive for LTLS than other prediction models.

Thiazides remain effective as diuretics and antihypertensive agents in individuals with low GFR.

Background: Reliable estimates for risk of cardiovascular-specific mortality and progression to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) among elderly patients undergoing major surgery are not available. This study aimed to develop simple risk scores to predict these events.Methods: In a single-centre cohort of elderly patients undergoing major surgery requiring hospital stay longer than 24 h, progression to ESRD and long-term cardiovascular-specific mortality were modelled using multivariable subdistribution hazard models, adjusting for co-morbidity, frailty and type of surgery.Results: Before surgery, 2⋅9 and 11⋅9 per cent of 16 655 patients had ESRD and chronic kidney disease (CKD) respectively. During the hospital stay, 46⋅9 per cent of patients developed acute kidney injury (AKI). Patients with kidney disease had a significantly higher risk of cardiovascular-specific (CV) mortality compared with patients without kidney disease (adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for CKD without AKI 1⋅60, 95 per cent c.i. 1⋅25 to 2⋅01; AKI without CKD 1⋅70, 1⋅52 to 1⋅87; AKI with CKD 2⋅80, 2⋅50 to 3⋅20; ESRD 5⋅21, 4⋅32 to 6⋅27), as well as increased progression to ESRD (AKI without CKD 5⋅40, 3⋅44 to 8⋅35; CKD without AKI 8⋅80, 4⋅60 to 17⋅00; AKI with CKD 31⋅60, 19⋅90 to 49⋅90). CV Death and ESRD Risk scores were developed to predict CV mortality and progression to ESRD. Calculated CV Death and ESRD Risk scores performed well with c-statistics: 0⋅77 (95 per cent c.i. 0⋅76 to 0⋅78) and 0⋅82 (0⋅78 to 0⋅86) respectively at 1 year.Conclusion: Kidney disease in elderly patients undergoing major surgery is associated with a high risk of CV mortality and progression to ESRD. Risk scores can augment the shared decision-making process of informed consent and identify patients requiring postoperative renal-protective strategies.

We report a unique case of babesiosis presenting as sepsis after kidney transplantation. A 70-year-old female kidney transplant recipient presented with fever, hemolytic anemia, and acute kidney injury, and met three of four systemic inflammatory response syndrome criteria. Serology was positive for Babesia microti, confirmed by polymerase chain reaction. The patient was treated with atovaquone and azithromycin and made a full recovery. Reports of babesiosis after solid organ transplantation are rare, with only four prior cases reported in the literature. We report the first case of babesiosis, to our knowledge, presenting as sepsis that was successfully treated after solid organ transplantation.

Congestion is the most common reason for hospitalization of patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) and adversely impacts their outcomes. Extracorporeal ultrafiltration (UF) therapy has re-emerged as an effective strategy for decongestion in this setting. This article is intended to discuss key concepts in UF and its technique, provide a brief historical view of UF application for decongestion in ADHF, review the hemodynamic and neurohormonal effects of UF and their positive effects on the pathophysiology of ADHF, discuss the findings of the landmark trials in this field, and explain key findings of these studies as well as the apparent discrepancies in their findings. In a separate section we discuss the intricacies of renal dysfunction in ADHF as it plays a very important role in understanding the current evidence and designing futures clinical trials of UF in ADHF. In the end, the authors provide their perspective on the future role of UF in management of patients with ADHF and congestion.