Active clinical trials for "Kidney Diseases"

This national study was a post-marketing surveillance study conducted in Korea from 29 August 2008 to 28 August 2012 to meet local regulatory requirements for Mircera (monopegylated-epoetin beta). Prospective participant-based data collection was evaluated for safety/risk assessments and effectiveness. No specific study-related procedures are required. Participants were to be followed up as long as possible at the physician's discretion.

The purpose of this study is to understand what prevents chronic kidney disease patients from making a timely decision about dialysis modality options. This understanding will allow us to develop and implement interventions to assist patients in this turning point so that they can make the right decision for them in a timely enough manner so that each patient can start dialysis in the safest and best way for them. 200 later stage chronic kidney disease patients (20% or less of kidney function remaining) will be asked to participate in the study with the goal of having 150 patients participate in the study. Hypotheses: 50 % of patients will have made a modality decision when interviewed and patients in the action stage of behavior will be more likely to make a modality selection than patients in earlier stages of behavior change. Barriers to modality selection will act at several levels including patient, provider and health system level and will vary by behavioral stage of change 10-15% of patients might choose home dialysis. Knowledge, self efficacy in terms of CKD, education, and income will likely be barriers to home dialysis choice.

In patients with treatment resistent hypertension renal nerve ablation emerged as an effective interventional approach of treating hypertensive disease with a progressively increasing fall in blood pressure. Decreased activity of the sympathetic nervous system is one of the major underlying pathogenetic mechanism of the fall in blood pressure but the precise mechanisms that causes the fall in blood pressure in the short-term and, in particular, long-term remains elusive. The objective of the study is to understand the pathogenetic mechanisms of renal denervation beyond the reduced activity of the sympathetic nervous system. In 100 hypertensive patients most advanced technology will be applied, before and repeatedly after renal denervation, throughout the follow-up period of 1 year. Systemic activity of the renin angiotensin aldosterone system, renal perfusion (by MRI spin labelling technique), local activity of the renin angiotensin system in the kidney (urinary angiotensinogen concentrations), sodium excretion and total sodium content (23 Na-MRI technique) and vascular remodelling of small (retinal arterioles 50 - 150 µm) and large arteries (carotid - femoral pulse wave velocity and augmentation index, both measured over 24 hours) will be assessed. Identification of the pathogenetic mechanisms involved in the fall in blood pressure after renal denervation may help to identify those hypertensive patients that profit most from renal nerve ablation in terms of blood pressure reduction. The investigators propose the following hypotheses why a progressive decrease in blood pressure happens, in addition to the decreased activity of the central nervous system, after renal nerve ablation: Short term effects: A)Preservation of renal function and perfusion B)Reduction of local RAS activity in the kidney C)Exaggerated sodium excretion immediately after renal nerve ablation Long term effects: D)Decrease of total sodium content after 6 and 12 months. E)Improvement of vascular wall properties after 6 and 12 months

A specifically formulated probiotic product comprised of defined and tested microbial strains may afford renoprotection in what has been generally called "Enteric DialysisTM". However, it is also referred to as enteric toxin reduction technology. Our hypothesis is to assess the potential benefits in devising a bowel-based probiotic formulation (Kibow® Biotics/RenadylTM) as a dietary supplement product for patients undergoing dialysis along with standardized care of treatment.

Understudied drugs will be administered to children per standard of care as prescribed by their treating caregiver and only biological sample collection during the time of drug administration will be involved. A total of approximately 7000 children aged <21 years who are receiving these drugs for standard of care will be enrolled and will be followed for up a maximum of 90 days. The goal of this study is to characterize the pharmacokinetics of understudied drugs for which specific dosing recommendations and safety data are lacking. The prescribing of drugs to children will not be part of this protocol. Taking advantage of procedures done as part of routine medical care (i.e. blood draws) this study will serve as a tool to better understand drug exposure in children receiving these drugs per standard of care. The data collected through this initiative will also provide valuable pharmacokinetic and dosing information of drugs in different pediatric age groups as well as special pediatric populations (i.e. obese).

Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is the best known measurement of kidney function. Serum creatinine (blood test) is the most commonly used marker to predict GFR. It is a convenient, inexpensive test that involves a single blood draw with rapid results. However, creatinine has several limitations because its blood level is dependent on age, body mass, and sex. One of the gold standards for measuring GFR is plasma clearance of an IV injected agent, iohexol. It has been found to be safe and nontoxic in prior studies, but is not practical in the clinical setting due to the need for several timed blood draws. Recent studies have investigated the use of cystatin C as an alternative marker to predict GFR. Cystatin C also involves only a single blood draw, and has less confounding factors than creatinine since it is independent of age, body mass, and sex. Currently, it remains controversial whether cystatin C is a significantly better biomarker of estimated GFR than creatinine. To date, there has not been a large prospective cohort study to compare cystatin C and creatinine in pediatric kidney transplant patients who are on maintenance immunosuppression (anti-rejection drugs). Accurate measurement and early detection of deterioration of GFR is critical in the care of this patient population. The purpose of this study is to assess the accuracy of estimating GFR by using cystatin C versus creatinine clearance equations when compared to the surrogate gold standard of iohexol GFR in pediatric renal transplant patients.

The investigators are planning to study the serum level of Urotensin II in chronic kidney disease patients, kidney transplants, and healthy controls.

The aim of this post-marketing observational study is to obtain further data on the long term use, safety and efficacy of selective Vitamin D Receptor Activator's as it is prescribed in the normal clinical setting and according to the approved Summary of Product Characteristics for the treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism in hemodialysis patients in Turkey. The relation of the safety data to PTH (Parathyroid hormone) suppression over time will be evaluated. Also the number and incidence of hypercalcemia and hyperphosphatemia will be recorded.

Vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency is common in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients and is associated with elevated parathyroid hormone (PTH) concentration and mineral and bone disorder (MBD). There is also increasing evidence to show that these abnormalities increase cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in CKD patients. There is a need for early identification of vitamin D insufficiency/deficiency in CKD patients to prevent its long-term complications. However, the vitamin D status of CKD patients in Singapore has not been well described. The purpose of this study is to assess the vitamin D status of predialysis CKD patients in a tertiary academic teaching hospital in Singapore, and its association with parameters for MBD. Predialysis patients from the outpatient renal clinic at the National University Hospital (NUH) will be recruited into this study. Blood samples from the patients will be collected after an overnight fast to determine their serum 25(OH)D, creatinine, phosphorus, calcium, albumin and i-PTH concentrations. These parameters will be compared among patients in various stages of CKD.

The specific purpose of this study is to describe the relationship between salivary phosphorus and kidney function, specifically as it relates to serum phosphorus, FGF23, PTH, vitamin D status and urinary excretion of phosphorus.