Dialysis patients exhibit an inverse, L- or U-shaped association between blood pressure and mortality risk, in contrast to the linear association in the general population. We prospectively studied 9333 hemodialysis patients in France, aiming to analyze associations between predialysis systolic, diastolic, and pulse pressure with all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and nonfatal cardiovascular endpoints for a median follow-up of 548 days. Blood pressure components were tested against outcomes in time-varying covariate linear and fractional polynomial Cox models. Changes throughout follow-up were analyzed with a joint model including both the time-varying covariate of sequential blood pressure and its slope over time. A U-shaped association of systolic blood pressure was found with all-cause mortality and of both systolic and diastolic blood pressure with cardiovascular mortality. There was an L-shaped association of diastolic blood pressure with all-cause mortality. The lowest hazard ratio of all-cause mortality was observed for a systolic blood pressure of 165 mm Hg, and of cardiovascular mortality for systolic/diastolic pressures of 157/90 mm Hg, substantially higher than currently recommended values for the general population. The 95% lower confidence interval was approximately 135/70 mm Hg. We found no significant correlation for either systolic, diastolic, or pulse pressure with myocardial infarction or nontraumatic amputations, but there were significant positive associations between systolic and pulse pressure with stroke (per 10-mm Hg increase: hazard ratios 1.15, 95% confidence interval 1.07 and 1.23; and 1.20, 1.11 and 1.31, respectively). Thus, whereas high pre-dialysis blood pressure is associated with stroke risk, low pre-dialysis blood pressure may be both harmful and a proxy for comorbid conditions leading to premature death.

We designed an efficient method of regional citrate anticoagulation for CVVHDF by using commercial solutions. The monitoring of patients was as intensive as during heparin anticoagulation for CRRT. Because of the higher cost of this method, it should be proposed only for patients with high bleeding risk.

Use of the vitE-PS membrane during a short period improves erythrocyte antioxidant defense mechanisms and seems to lead to a reduction in EPO requirements in HD patients.

Lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) and lysolecithin acyltransferase (LAT) activities in plasma were significantly lower in undialyzed than in dialyzed uremic patients and controls. Both LCAT and LAT activities were normal in the maintenance dialysis group. The free/total cholesterol ratio was significantly increased in the undialyzed patients only. This ratio and LCAT were inversely related in the dialyzed group, unrelated in the undialyzed patients, and positively correlated in controls. Unlike non-uremic populations with hypertriglyceridemia in which LCAT is increased, no correlation was found between plasma triglyceride and LCAT in the uremic population studied. Our results show that both LCAT and LAT activities are reduced in undialyzed chronic uremic patients but are not significantly different from control levels in patients treated with chronic hemodialysis. These results indicate that the changes in LCAT activity contrast with those described in lipoprotein composition and metabolism which do not appear to be affected by chronic dialysis therapy.

Purpose: To describe the epidemiology of the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in a Brazilian ICU. Methods: This prospective observational, non-interventional study, included all consecutive patients with ARDS criteria [1] admitted in the ICU of a Brazilian tertiary hospital, between January 1997 and September 2001. Were collected in a prospective fashion the following variables: age, gender, APACHE II score at ICU admission and at ARDS diagnosis, cause of ARDS, presence of AIDS, cancer and immunosuppression, occurrence of barotrauma, performance of traqueostomy, mortality, duration of mechanical ventilation (MV), length of stay (LOS) in ICU and in hospital. The lung injury score (LIS) [2] was used to quantify the degree of pulmonary injury in the first week of ARDS. Results: There was 2182 patients (P) admitted in ICU during the study period, of whom 141 (6.46%) had ARDS criteria. Seventy-six (54%) were men, the mean age was 46 ± 18 years, APACHE II 18 ± 7 and 19 ± 7 at admission and at ARDS diagnosis, respectively. Septic shock accounted for 42% (60 P) of the ARDS causes, sepsis 22% (31 P), diffuse pulmonary infection 16% (23 P), aspiration pneumonia 11% (15 P), non-septic shock 5% (7 P) and others 4% (5 P). Ten percent (14 P) had AIDS, 30% (43 P) cancer and 25% (36 P) immunosuppression. All patients were mechanically ventilated with Tidal Volume between 4 and 8 ml/kg. Only 3.5% (5 P) had barotrauma and 10% (14 P) performed traqueostomy. Mortality rate was 79% in the ICU. The patients required 12 ± 10 days on MV, ranging from 1 to 55 days. The LOS in ICU and hospital was 14 ± 13 (1-69) days and 28 ± 32 (1-325) days, respectively. There was a time delay of 3.7 ± 4.5 days between admission in ICU and the onset of ARDS. The Murray score (mean ± SD) was 3.2 ± 0.4, 3 ± 0.5, 3 ± 0.5, 2.9 ± 0.6, 2.8 ± 0.7, 2.7 ± 0.7 and 2.6 ± 0.8 in the first 7 days, respectively. Conclusions: ARDS in our hospital has a similar incidence of reports in the USA and Europe. There was a higher mortality, which could be explained by a high incidence of infection causes of ARDS, mainly septic shock, and elevated combined occurrence of AIDS, cancer and immunosuppression, along the degree of LIS. The incidence of barotrauma was low, as a consequence of the current mechanical ventilation strategies.