Active clinical trials for "Kidney Failure, Chronic"

The objective of this unblinded study is to assess the nutritional effects of a 12 weeks administration of the specific enteral nutrition (SEN) RealDiet®Renal pockets, as well as the impact on the patients' quality of life.

Renal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R)-induced injury is known to be associated with immediate and long-term kidney dysfunction after renal transplantation. Protecting the kidney against I/R injury and maintaining renal function during renal transplant surgery is therefore very important in order to improve post-operative outcome. This purpose of this study is to investigate whether propofol anesthesia done in both kidney donors and recipients during deceased brain dead donor kidney transplantation is effective in reducing renal I/R injury via its antioxidant and antiinflammatory properties and improve post-transplant outcome compared to desflurane anesthesia.

The aim of this study is to assess the effect of a diet prior to administration of contrast agent in terms of a preventive procedure which leads to an attenuation of the contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN). Patients with a known kidney disease are especially at risk. A potential beneficial effect of a diet prior to intervention has been shown in investigations in mammals, therefore this study will investigate if a pre-interventional diet in patients with known kidney disease and scheduled contrast agent examination can attenuate or prevent a post-interventional loss of kidney function.

In this study, the investigators will administer pomegranate juice or fruit extract as a targeted antioxidant therapy to hemodialysis patients. The investigators will examine whether these pomegranate products will be safe and well-tolerated. The investigators will also examine whether these products may lead to improvements in blood serum biomarkers of: oxidative stress status inflammatory status endothelial dysfunction

Poor nutritional status as evidenced by low body mass index, low muscle mass or low serum albumin is a strong predictor of morbidity and mortality in dialysis patients. Hypercatabolism induced by inflammation is widely considered the cause of uremic malnutrition even though there is no clear evidence that hemodialysis patients with elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) levels are at greater risk of losing weight or muscle mass. Conversely, there is little data on whether dialysis patients with malnutrition and elevated C-reactive protein levels would gain muscle mass with protein supplementation. The hypothesis is that protein supplementation during dialysis will improve muscle mass, functional status and quality of life in inflamed malnourished hemodialysis patients. Therefore, the objectives of the current proposal are to examine in malnourished (body mass index < 23 kg/m2 or serum creatinine < 8 mg/dL) hemodialysis patients with inflammation (high sensitivity CRP > 3 mg/dL), the effects of protein supplementation on Muscle mass as determined by creatinine kinetics Functional status as assessed by 6 min walk Quality of life as assessed by Short Form -12 survey

The current anti-rejection drug regime for kidney transplant recipients in use at the West London Renal & Transplant Centre (WLRaTC) consists of induction therapy with the very potent monoclonal antibody Campath 1-H (Alemtuzumab) followed by long-term maintenance with the Calcineurin inhibitor Tacrolimus The recent development (and licensing in the UK) of an extended-release, once daily formulation of Tacrolimus holds out the promise of simpler drug regimes for our patients. In the context of our current successful use of Tacrolimus monotherapy maintenance after Campath 1-H induction, the extended-release Tacrolimus formulation will enable us to offer a regime where the only long-term immunosuppressive treatment that most of our patients need will be a single drug, taken once a day. The investigators wish to assess the efficacy of such a regime in a structured comparison with our current protocol.

The hypothesis of this trial is to assess the effect of spironolactone on heart size and mass

Pomegranate juice (PJ) consumption by hemodialysis patients will reduce the oxidative stress and the incidence of infections, cardiovascular events and mortality.

Purpose of the study is to characterize the potential acute and long-term improvement of dietary flavanols on vascular function in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Patients will twice daily receive either a flavanol-poor or a flavanol-rich drink. In a double blind, placebo-controlled crossover study the safety, efficacy and acute beneficial effects of flavanol ingestion will be assessed in 10 patients with ESRD. In a 30 day long-term, double blind, placebo-controlled parallel study the chronic effects of dietary flavanols on vascular function in 52 patients with ESRD will be evaluated.

Homocysteine recently gained access to the category of risk factor for the development of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in the general population. Chronic renal failure patients, even before being introduced to dialysis therapy have almost universal elevation of serum homocysteine; when on dialysis their mortality is above 50% related to cardiovascular disease that we might now speculate, with a contribution of potentially toxic levels of the aminoacid homocysteine.