Active clinical trials for "Kidney Failure, Chronic"

To evaluate the safety and efficacy of long-term use of Kiklin® Capsules in actual clinical settings.

This study is a prospective, single center, single blind (patient and laboratory), randomized, cross-over, two week investigation of intradialytic acid-base kinetics and physiology associated with use of two commercial acid dialysate concentrates in prevalent hemodialysis patients.

Patients with end-stage renal failure (ESRF) have lost the function to excrete urea and maintain electrolyte balance, which is lethal unless they are given renal replacement therapy (Gibney, Hoste et al. 2008). As one of the initiatives of service improvement, the HA has introduced the haemodialysis public-private partnership (HD PPP) programme to shorten the waiting time for patients with ESRF needing HD treatment. HD PPP programme is a new service provision model that purchases healthcare services from non-Government healthcare organizations. The evaluation on the quality of care (QOC) is an essential part of the programme in order to inform future policy. The Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care of the University of Hong Kong has been appointed by the HA to carry out the evaluation of the QOC of the programme. The Action Learning and Audit Spiral methodologies to measure whether the target standard of care intended by the HD PPP programme is achieved. Each HD PPP participating hospitals and centers will be invited to complete a structure evaluation questionnaire. Sixty patients who have agreed to join HD PPP and 60 control patients who have refused to take part in HD PPP will be included. The participants will be followed up by telephone to evaluate the effect of the programme on quality of life (QOL), patient enablement, and global rating of change in health condition. Data on the process of care and clinical outcomes of care will be retrieved from the HA medical records. Main Outcome Measures: The primary outcomes are the proportion of participants who have received the planned process of care and adequate haemodialysis (HD) measured by the Kt/V Data Analysis: Descriptive statistics on proportions meeting the QOC criteria will be calculated. The outcomes of HD PPP subjects will be compared at 6, 12, 24, 36 and 48 months by paired sample t-test. The outcomes between HD PPP subjects and control group will be compared by independent sample t-test or Chi-square test. Results: The QOC of the HD PPP programme will be determined. Areas of deficiency and possible areas for quality enhancement will be identified. Conclusion: The results of this study will provide empirical evidence on whether the HD PPP can achieve equivalent QOC as the usual HA care in order to guide service planning and policy decision making for patients with ESRF.

Allopurinol-induced severe cutaneous adverse reaction (SCAR) is a rare but fatal condition. Previous reports have reported that HLA-B*5801 is an important genetic risk factor significantly associated with the development of allopurinol-induced SCAR. However, there has been no prospective study to prove the clinical efficacy of a HLA-B*5801 screening before administration of allopurinol in predicting allopurinol-induced SCAR. The purpose of this prospective study is to test our hypothesis that a pre-screening of HLA-B*5801 will significantly reduce the risk of allopurinol-induced SCAR development compared to the historical control.

Despite many efforts to increase the size of the donor pool, there is a large and growing disparity between the number of donor kidneys available for transplantation and the number of patients on the transplant waiting list. Increasing the quality of currently available donor kidneys would potentially improve the longevity of deceased donor kidney transplants by years, thus increasing the rate of transplantation patients on the kidney transplant waiting list. In addition, recipients of higher quality kidneys have shorter hospital stays and lower total hospital charges. By innovating the organ donation process, such that deceased donor kidneys are removed prior to the cessation of cardiac activity, rather than after, it may be possible to improve the quality of the kidney before transplantation, resulting in improved function after transplantation and increased longevity of these transplanted kidneys. Further, this improved kidney quality is highly likely to translate to reduced need for renal dialysis and other high-cost interventions, yielding lower total hospital charges. In this study we will test the hypothesis that, through a cost-free technical innovation, the quality of deceased donor kidneys could be improved significantly, saving thousands more lives per year and reducing total health care expenditures on renal transplantation.

INTRODUCTION: Accurate estimation of dry weight (DW) is an important and difficult problem in clinical practice. DW is defined as the lowest weight after hemodialysis (HD) where the patient will not develop symptoms of hypotension and edema, in addition to not using antihypertensives. Achieving a fluid balance benefits the control of blood pressure and reduces cardiovascular risk. In most HD centers, the DW is estimated using a subjective method dependent on the signs and symptoms that the patient presents. Recently, several approaches have been studied to develop a standardized DW evaluation technique. Among these, the analysis of electric bioimpedance vectors (BIVA) has been recognized as a simple and promising method with high reproducibility. OBJECTIVE: To use BIVA to improve dry weight estimation in patients with chronic renal failure undergoing hemodialysis. Methods: This is a non-randomized pre-test / post-test clinical trial, where the universe of patients comes from the hemodialysis unit of the General State Hospital of Sonora. Patients who have limb amputations, pacemakers, metal implants, who are under renal transplant protocol or who have a renal transplant, and presence of infectious foci will be restricted from participating. The diagnosis of DW in the patients will be performed for modification and follow-up. Fluid status will be evaluated using BIVA. Measurements will be made before and after HD in three consecutive weekly periods and one one final assessment at three months. At the beginning of each period, weight, electrolytes, creatinine, total proteins, albumin, pre-albumin, urea and blood pressure will be measured to calculate the Malnutrition Inflammation Score and Bilbrey Index. At the end of the HD protocol of each period, body composition and muscle strength will be evaluated through triceps skinfold, mid-upper arm circumference and dynamometry. The dialysis dose received will be modified according to BIVA. The main variables to be considered will be DW, extracellular water and blood pressure. The duration of the study will be approximately 6 months. In addition, at the end of each measurement, each participant will be given a nutritional recommendation (feeding guide) specific to their energy requirements.

Kidney Disease subjects will be recruited to take part of a mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention for 8-10 sessions. All subjects will complete a baseline interview, one follow-up at 3 months and the close out interview at 5 months.

Kidney disease patients have a variety of bone disorders that result in bone loss and fractures. The mechanisms of these bone disorders are not clear but may be related to abnormal modification of a bone protein known as collagen. Therefore, the investigators are conducting this research study to identify underlying mechanisms that are responsible for the disruption of bone collagen and determining whether the abnormal bone collagen impairs bone strength. The investigators intend to identify these mechanisms through studying relationships between kidney disease and bone strength via bone imaging, bone biopsy and non-invasive measures from blood and skin.

Elevated phosphate concentrations in the blood have been associated with multiple negative health outcomes in patients with chronic kidney disease as well as in the general population. These negative outcomes include an increased risk of vascular complications like heart attack and stroke. While complications like heart attack and stroke reflect obstructive disease in large blood vessels, recent evidence suggests that elevated phosphate concentrations may first lead to disease in small blood vessels. This single site clinical trial will randomize 20 veterans with end stage renal disease on hemodialysis to either a phosphate binder or placebo and evaluated for changes in their microvascular function using laser-Doppler flowmtery and nail-fold capillaroscopy.

The ESCAPE-PD (Effects of add-on SpironolaCtone to losartan versus Alone on Peritoneal mEmbrane among continuous ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis patients) study is a randomized, open-label, single center, active-controlled clinical trial. Adults end-stage kidney disease patients 18 years or older undergoing continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) will be enrolled. A total 84 CAPD will be randomly assigned to either the combination of spironolactone and losartan (experimental arm) or losartan alone (control arm). The primary outcomes are the difference in peritoneal dialysate effluent cancer antigen-125 (CA-125) and peritoneal equilibration test (PET) indices (dialysate-to-plasma creatinine ratio, 4-hour ultrafiltration volume, and the concentration of glucose present in the solution at the start of the test). Secondary outcome measures include laboratory and mechanistic outcome measures, nutrition outcomes, health-related quality of life, physical function, clinical events, and safety profiles. Results will be disseminated to suggest a strategy to prevent the peritoneal membrane function among CAPD patients through peer-reviewed publications along with scientific meetings.