Active clinical trials for "Kidney Diseases"

The prevalence of chronic kidney injury (CKD) following cardiac surgery during childhood is not known, but there is evidence of CKD in young adults. In the present study assumption is made that CKD can already by diagnosed in patients at or just before adolescence, and the aim is calculate its prevalence according to the KDIGO criteria by a cross-sectional study, which will enroll patients aged 10 to 15 years. The second hypothesis is that events occurring peri-operatively during initial surgery or during follow-up could by chart review and regression analysis.

The main purpose of this study is to analyse test-retest-reliability of functional quantification of endothelial dysfunction through puls-amplitude-tonometry in patients with heart failure with preserved/reduced ejection fraction, pulmonary hypertension, arterial hypertension and diabetic nephropathy. In the same group, test-retest-reliability of circulating endothelial cells as well as test-retest reliability of non invasive cardiac output Monitoring will be observed and analysed.

Background The prevalence and incidence of type 2 diabetes is increasing globally. A common complication of diabetes is the disease of the blood vessels, vascular diseases, which can cause disorders like myocardial infarction, stroke and kidney failure. Methods to detect early subclinical stages of macro-vascular disease are not yet available in a clinical setting. Hypothesis Arterial stiffness, an easy accessible vascular parameter, may provide additional prognostic information when evaluating risk profile for patients with diabetes type 2. Aim The aim of the project is to investigate the association between arterial stiffness and the occurrence and development of vascular complications in patients with type 2 diabetes. Specifically we want to investigate: in a cross-sectional study, the association between arterial stiffness and subclinical atherosclerotic changes in the coronary arteries assessed by computed tomography (CT) and in a longitudinal study, the predictive value of arterial stiffness on the development of subclinical cerebrovascular changes assessed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and nephropathy assessed by urine analysis. Methods The study population consists of 100 patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes and 100 age- and sex matched controls. The study participants were enrolled between 2008-2011 and extensively characterized i.a. with arterial stiffness (pulse wave velocity), MRI (white matter lesions and cerebral infarctions) and urine analysis (albuminuria). In this study we will enrol the same patients in a 5 year follow-up study in order to repeat above mentioned measurements. Furthermore, CT is used to investigate the coronary plaque burden of the participants (Agatston Score and Segment Involvement Score). Results and Perspective This project adds new insight into arterial stiffness as a predictor of the progression of micro- and macrovascular complications in patients with type 2 diabetes, and can potentially improve risk stratification and early strategies of intervention in this patient group.

In this study, we studied lipoprotein abnormalities-related variables as risk factors for the development of cardiovascular disease in patients on renal replacement therapies.We studied 96 dialyzed patients, 62 males and 34 females, on mean age 62.1 years old and 24 healthy controls.We concluded that metabolic acidosis activating the inflammation and lipoprotein oxidation influences the dyslipidemia and cardiovascular morbidity of patients on renal replacement therapies.Dialysis adequacy was positively associated to cardioprotective HDL.Peritoneal dialysis holds a better acidosis level and lower oxidized lipids than hemodialysis modalities.

The Triglycerides (TG) to High Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL-C) ratio is a feature of insulin resistance and an independent predictor of cardiovascular risk. The investigators aimed to evaluate the relationship between TG/HDL-C ratio and the endothelial functions in patients with CKD.

Trends in organ donor pool are characterized by an increasing age and a shift towards cerebrovascular diseases as primary causes of death. As a result, donors older than 60 years nowadays represent more than one fourth of the entire donor pool in Italy. This, along with an increasing number of patients on the waiting list for transplantation, prompted a growing use of organs from subjects older than 60 years that would have been considered unsuitable years ago. To improve graft outcomes, transplant of two older kidneys in the same recipient has been proposed. To optimize allocation of these organs to single or dual transplantation,a scoring system for kidneys, based on biopsy, with scores ranging from a minimum of 0 (indicating the absence of renal lesions) to a maximum of 12 (indicating the presence of marked changes in the renal parenchyma) has been suggested. According to this panel, kidneys with a score of 4 or lower are predicted to contain enough viable nephrons to be used as single transplants, those with a score of 5, 6, or 7 can be used as dual transplants, kidneys with a score greater than 7 are discarded. The survival of kidney grafts obtained from donors older than 60 years and allocated for single or dual transplantation on the basis of biopsy findings before transplantation was similar to that of single grafts from younger donors. To further improve these results, set-up of strategies to preserve organs is crucial to save the residual nephron mass and optimize outcomes of these marginal grafts. In this regard, over the past 30 years two methods of kidney preservation have been developed. With cold storage, the kidney is flushed once it is removed from the donor and placed in an ice-cooled container with preservation solution. With the use of pulsatile machine perfusion, the kidney is connected to a machine, which pumps a cold solution containing oxygen and nutrients through the kidney. This process allows for metabolism to continue in the kidney with end products being removed. The broad aim of the present study is to evaluate whether pulsatile machine perfusion of kidneys from older/marginal donors may provide better outcomes than static perfusion. To this purpose the outcome of recipients of perfused kidneys will be compared with the outcome of historical controls receiving non-perfused kidney selected and allocated on the basis of the same criteria and matched by gender, age and kidney histologic score.

This study is a prospective, non-interventional, cross-sectional multicenter survey. The aim is to better understand the current therapy pattern for anemia in CKD treated with erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) and not on-dialysis participant population in Israel. Participating physicians will be requested to interview eligible participants with CKD not on dialysis and to complete for them a satisfaction survey for anemia treatment. The survey will be completed twice, once at study start and once at six months' follow-up.

The common causes of mortality are late stages of chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular disease and infections, are associated with abnormalities of the immune system, an underlying state of chronic inflammation and oxidative stress. These processes have not been carefully described in the chronic kidney disease population. The researcher can use Diffuse Optical Spectroscopy to determine the immune system in individuals with chronic kidney disease and describe the association with chronic inflammation and oxidative stress in that population.

The MBD-5D is a prospective observational study with a case-cohort and a cohort design. Eligible patients are receiving hemodialysis and have secondary hyperparathyroidism. The study's three goals are (1) to record the patients' characteristics, and variation in the patterns of their treatment; (2) to analyze factors associated with variation in those medical practice patterns; and (3) to identify practice patterns and other factors that affect hospitalization, mortality, and other patient-level outcomes.

Objective: To assess whether nocturnal hemodialysis and renal transplantation are associated with less progression of coronary arterial calcification, compared with conventional hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis; To identify the risk factors for coronary arterial calcification in dialysis and transplant patients, and to assess a possible interaction with treatment modality.