Articles

A virtual ward for home hemodialysis patients – a pilot trial

Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) have a high rate of hospitalization and are prone to care gaps that may occur during the transition from hospital to home. The virtual ward (VW) is an innovative mo...

Authors: Michael J. Raphael, Annie-Claire Nadeau-Fredette, Karthik K. Tennankore and Christopher T. Chan

Renocardiac syndromes: physiopathology and treatment stratagems

Bidirectional inter-organ interactions are essential for normal functioning of the human body; however, they may also promote adverse conditions in remote organs. This review provides a narrative summary of th...

Authors: J. G. Kingma Jr., D. Simard and J. R. Rouleau

Time to revisit the problem of CIN? The low incidence of acute kidney injury with and without contrast in hospitalized patients: an observational cohort study

Acute kidney injury (AKI) following imaging procedures with contrast medium in hospitalized patients is commonly attributed to contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN). This study sought to establish a benchmark of ...

Authors: Juliya Hemmett, Lee Er, Helen H. L. Chiu, Christopher Cheung, Ognjenka Djurdjev and Adeera Levin

Ambulatory care after acute kidney injury: an opportunity to improve patient outcomes

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is an increasingly common problem among hospitalized patients. Patients who survive an AKI-associated hospitalization are at higher risk of de novo and worsening chronic kidney disease, ...

Authors: Samuel A. Silver, Stuart L. Goldstein, Ziv Harel, Andrea Harvey, Elizabeth J. Rompies, Neill K. Adhikari, Rey Acedillo, Arsh K. Jain, Robert Richardson, Christopher T. Chan, Glenn M. Chertow, Chaim M. Bell and Ron Wald

Assessing the extent to which current clinical research is consistent with patient priorities: a scoping review using a case study in patients on or nearing dialysis

There is growing acknowledgement that engaging patients to identify their research priorities is important. Using a case study of patients on or nearing dialysis, we sought to assess the extent to which recent...

Authors: Min Jun, Braden Manns, Andreas Laupacis, Liam Manns, Bhavdeep Rehal, Sally Crowe and Brenda R. Hemmelgarn

Recurrence of crystalline nephropathy after kidney transplantation in APRT deficiency and primary hyperoxaluria

To provide transplant physicians with a summary of the pathogenesis and diagnosis of adenine phosphoribosyl transferase (APRT) deficiency and primary hyperoxaluria and, focussed on kidney transplantation, and ...

Authors: Guillaume Bollée, Pierre Cochat and Michel Daudon

Comorbidity burden at dialysis initiation and mortality: A cohort study

A high level of comorbidity at dialysis initiation is associated with an increased risk of death. However, contemporary assessments of the validity and prognostic value of comorbidity indices are lacking.

Authors: Alwyn T Gomez, Bryce A Kiberd, J Patrick Royston, Talal Alfaadhel, Steven D Soroka, Brenda R Hemmelgarn and Karthik K Tennankore

Frailty and physical function in chronic kidney disease: the CanFIT study

Frailty, a manifestation of unsuccessful aging, is highly prevalent in people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and is associated with comorbid conditions in cross-sectional studies. Longitudinal studies inves...

Authors: Simon R. Walker, Ranveer Brar, Frederick Eng, Paul Komenda, Claudio Rigatto, Bhanu Prasad, Clara J. Bohm, Leroy J. Storsley and Navdeep Tangri

Erratum: Oral salt and water versus intravenous saline for the prevention of acute kidney injury following contrast-enhanced computed tomography: study protocol for a pilot randomized trial

Authors: Swapnil Hiremath, Greg A. Knoll, Jeanne Françoise Kayibanda, Dean Fergusson, Benjamin J. W. Chow, Wael Shabana, Erin Murphy, Tim Ramsay, Matthew James, Christine A. White, Amit Garg, Ron Wald, Jeffrey Hoch and Ayub Akbari

Acute kidney injury: preclinical innovations, challenges, and opportunities for translation

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a clinically important condition that has attracted a great deal of interest from the biomedical research community. However, acute kidney injury AKI research findings have yet to ...

Authors: Samuel A. Silver, Héloise Cardinal, Katelyn Colwell, Dylan Burger and Jeffrey G. Dickhout

Association between serum alkaline phosphatase and primary resistance to erythropoiesis stimulating agents in chronic kidney disease: a secondary analysis of the HERO trial

Erythropoiesis stimulating agent (ESA)-resistant anemia is common in chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Authors: Sunil V. Badve, Lei Zhang, Jeff S. Coombes, Elaine M. Pascoe, Alan Cass, Philip Clarke, Paolo Ferrari, Stephen P. McDonald, Alicia T. Morrish, Eugenie Pedagogos, Vlado Perkovic, Donna Reidlinger, Anish Scaria, Rowan Walker, Liza A. Vergara, Carmel M. Hawley…

Developing renal allograft surveillance strategies – urinary biomarkers of cellular rejection

Developing tailored immunosuppression regimens requires sensitive, non-invasive tools for serial post-transplant surveillance as the current clinical standards with serum creatinine and proteinuria are ineffec...

Authors: Patricia Hirt-Minkowski, Sacha A De Serres and Julie Ho

Coronary artery calcification, cardiovascular events, and death: a prospective cohort study of incident patients on hemodialysis

Coronary calcification in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular outcomes and death from all causes. Previous evidence has been limited by short fol...

Authors: Trevor J. Wilkieson, M. Omair Rahman, Azim S. Gangji, Maurice Voss, Alistair J. Ingram, Nischal Ranganath, Charlie H. Goldsmith, Cathy Z. Kotsamanes, Mark A. Crowther, Christian G. Rabbat and Catherine M. Clase

Chronic kidney disease in congenital heart disease patients: a narrative review of evidence

Patients with congenital heart disease have a number of risk factors for the development of chronic kidney disease (CKD). It is well known that CKD has a large negative impact on health outcomes. It is importa...

Authors: Catherine Morgan, Mohammed Al-Aklabi and Gonzalo Garcia Guerra

The impact and treatment of obesity in kidney transplant candidates and recipients

The prevalence of obesity in patients with chronic kidney failure and renal transplant candidates has paralleled the epidemic in the general population. The associated risks of surgical complications and long-...

Authors: Gabriel Chan, Pierre Garneau and Roy Hajjar

Early outgrowth pro-angiogenic cell number and function do not correlate with left ventricular structure and function in conventional hemodialysis patients: a cross-sectional study

Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is commonly found in chronic dialysis (CD) recipients, and is associated with impaired microvascular cardiac perfusion and heart failure. In response to LVH and cardiac ische...

Authors: James R. Lineen, Michael Kuliszewski, Niki Dacouris, Christine Liao, Dmitriy Rudenko, Djeven P. Deva, Marc Goldstein, Howard Leong-Poi, Ron Wald, Andrew T. Yan and Darren A. Yuen

Increases in intravenous magnesium use among hospitalized patients: an institution cross-sectional experience

Among hospitalized patients, indications for the measurement of magnesium levels and treatment of hypomagnesemia with intravenous magnesium are not well defined. Recently, there have been reports of worldwide ...

Authors: Bryce A. Kiberd, Karthik K. Tennankore and Christopher J. A. Daley

Patients with chronic kidney disease and their intent to use electronic personal health records

Electronic personal health records (ePHRs) provide patients with access to their personal health information, aiming to inform them about their health, enhance self-management, and improve outcomes. Although t...

Authors: Tyrone G. Harrison, James Wick, Sofia B. Ahmed, Min Jun, Braden J. Manns, Robert R. Quinn, Marcello Tonelli and Brenda R. Hemmelgarn

Patient and stone characteristics associated with surgical intervention in pediatrics

The incidence of kidney stones in children is increasing. While guidelines exist for acute surgical intervention, there is limited data to inform the decision as to when to intervene non-urgently.

Authors: Esther Jun, Peter Metcalfe, Piush J. Mandhane and R. Todd Alexander

Validation of kidney transplantation using administrative data

Administrative data are increasingly being used to assess outcomes in kidney transplant recipients.

Authors: Ngan N Lam, Eric McArthur, S Joseph Kim and Gregory A Knoll

PTHrP-related Hypercalcaemia in Infancy and Congenital Anomalies of the Kidney and Urinary Tract (CAKUT)

Severe hypercalcaemia is a rare but clinically significant condition in infancy and childhood. Parathyroid hormone-related peptide (PTHrP)-mediated hypercalcaemia resulting from a malignancy is rare and only a...

Authors: Nardeen Kodous, Guido Filler, Ajay Parkash Sharma and Tamara Angela Van Hooren

Role of vascular function in predicting arteriovenous fistula outcomes: an observational pilot study

Many arteriovenous fistula (AVF) fail prior to use due to lack of maturation or thrombosis. Determining vascular function prior to surgery may be helpful to predict subsequent AVF success. This is a feasibilit...

Authors: Jennifer M MacRae, Sofia Ahmed, Brenda Hemmelgarn, Yichun Sun, Billie-Jean Martin, Idan Roifman and Todd Anderson

Inhibiting the progression of arterial calcification with vitamin K in HemoDialysis patients (iPACK-HD) trial: rationale and study design for a randomized trial of vitamin K in patients with end stage kidney disease

Cardiovascular disease, which is due in part to progressive vascular calcification, is the leading cause of death among patients with end stage kidney disease (ESKD) on dialysis. A role for vitamin K in the pr...

Authors: Rachel M Holden, Sarah L Booth, Andrew G Day, Catherine M Clase, Deborah Zimmerman, Louise Moist, M Kyla Shea, Kristin M McCabe, Sophie A Jamal, Sheldon Tobe, Jordan Weinstein, Rao Madhumathi, Michael A Adams and Daren K Heyland

CKD in disadvantaged populations

Authors: Guillermo Garcia-Garcia and Vivekanand Jha

An education initiative modifies opinions of hemodialysis nurses towards home dialysis

It has been shown that in-center hemodialysis (HD) nurses prefer in-center HD for patients with certain characteristics; however it is not known if their opinions can be changed.

Authors: Matthew Phillips, Colleen Wile, Carolyn Bartol, Cynthia Stockman, Minakshi Dhir, Steven D Soroka, Jay Hingwala, Joanne M Bargman, Christopher T Chan and Karthik K Tennankore

Strategies to increase living kidney donation: a retrospective cohort study

Living kidney transplantation (LKT) offers the best medical outcomes for organ recipients. Historically, our centre had a low rate of LKT. In 2009, in an effort to increase living organ donation (LOD), a dedic...

Authors: Héloïse Cardinal, Céline Durand, Sandra Larrivée, Jacobien Verhave, Michel R Pâquet and Marie-Chantal Fortin

Oral salt and water versus intravenous saline for the prevention of acute kidney injury following contrast-enhanced computed tomography: study protocol for a pilot randomized trial

Although intravenous saline is the accepted prophylactic measure for the prevention of contrast- induced acute kidney injury, the oral route could offer an equivalent, practical, and cost saving approach. A sy...

Authors: Hiremath Swapnil, Greg A Knoll, Jeanne Françoise Kayibanda, Dean Fergusson, Benjamin JW Chow, Wael Shabana, Erin Murphy, Tim Ramsay, Matthew James, Christine A White, Amit Garg, Ron Wald, Jeffrey Hoch and Ayub Akbari

Acute kidney injury: an acceptable risk of treatment with renin-angiotensin system blockade in primary care?

Use of renin-angiotensin system (RAS) blockade has become increasingly widespread driven by evidence-based guidance. There is concern about the role of these agents in the genesis of avoidable acute kidney inj...

Authors: Michael Bedford, Christopher KT Farmer, Jean Irving and Paul E Stevens

A modified Delphi process to identify process of care indicators for the identification, prevention and management of acute kidney injury after major surgery

The outcomes of acute kidney injury (AKI) are well appreciated. However, valid indicators of high quality processes of care for AKI after major surgery are lacking.

Authors: Matthew T James, Neesh Pannu, Rebecca Barry, Divya Karsanji, Marcello Tonelli, Brenda R Hemmelgarn, Braden J Manns, Sean M Bagshaw, H Tom Stelfox and Elijah Dixon

Benefits and harms of citrate locking solutions for hemodialysis catheters: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Citrate has theoretical advantages over heparin for locking hemodialysis central venous catheters (CVCs), but the comparative effectiveness of these agents is not clear.

Authors: Alexa Grudzinski, Arnav Agarwal, Neera Bhatnagar and Gihad Nesrallah

Should nephrologists take a larger role in interventional nephrology, and should central line insertion remain a requirement of nephrology residency training? A debate

The Canadian Society of Nephrology must soon provide input concerning the future of procedural training in nephrology. While at one time, the ability to insert a central venous catheter (CVC) was an essential ...

Authors: David C Mendelssohn

Mass screening for chronic kidney disease in rural and remote Canadian first nations people: methodology and demographic characteristics

Screening the general population for Chronic Kidney Disease is not currently recommended.. Rural and remote Canadian First Nations people suffer a disproportionate burden of Kidney Failure. The First Nations Comm...

Authors: Barry Lavallee, Caroline Chartrand, Lorraine McLeod, Claudio Rigatto, Navdeep Tangri, Allison Dart, Audrey Gordon, Stephanee Ophey and Paul Komenda

Percutaneous native renal biopsy adequacy: a successful interdepartmental quality improvement activity

An adequate renal biopsy is essential for diagnosis and treatment of medical renal disease.

Authors: Laurette Geldenhuys, Peter Nicholson, Namita Sinha, Angela Dini, Steve Doucette, Talal Alfaadhel, Valerie Keough and Michael West

Should temporary hemodialysis catheter insertion remain a requirement of nephrology residency training?

Recently, there has been much debate about the practicality and utility of training nephrology fellows in temporary hemodialysis catheter insertion.

Authors: Arsh K Jain

A population-based study of prevalence and risk factors of chronic kidney disease in León, Nicaragua

Recent studies have shown an excess of chronic kidney disease (CKD) among younger adult males in the Pacific coastal region of Nicaragua and suggest a non-conventional CKD etiology in this region. These studie...

Authors: Jill F Lebov, Eliette Valladares, Rodolfo Peña, Edgar M Peña, Scott L Sanoff, Efren Castellón Cisneros, Romulo E Colindres, Douglas R Morgan and Susan L Hogan

Development of a hemodialysis safety checklist using a structured panel process

The World Health Organization created a Surgical Safety Checklist with a pause or “time out” to help reduce preventable adverse events and improve communication. A similar tool might improve patient safety and...

Authors: Samuel A Silver, Alison Thomas, Andrea Rathe, Pamela Robinson, Ron Wald, Ziv Harel and Chaim M Bell

Reviewer acknowledgement 2014

The Editors of Canadian Journal of Kidney Health and Disease would like to thank all our reviewers who have contributed to the journal in Volume 1 (2014).

Authors: Adeera Levin, Catherine M Clase and Manish M Sood

Validating a scoring tool to predict acute kidney injury (AKI) following cardiac surgery

Acute kidney injury (AKI) after cardiac surgery is associated with an increased risk of mortality. Preoperative risk scores can identify patients at risk for AKI and facilitate preventive strategies. Currently...

Authors: Brian Wong, Jennifer St. Onge, Stephen Korkola and Bhanu Prasad

The use of tissue plasminogen activator as continuous infusion into an arteriovenous hemodialysis access in the hemodialysis unit: a case series

Thrombolytics such as tissue plasminogen activator are often used by interventional radiologists in the radiology suite to salvage thrombosed hemodialysis arteriovenous fistulae. Thrombolytics are also commonl...

Authors: Elene van der Merwe, Rick Luscombe and Mercedeh Kiaii

Urinary monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 levels and interstitial changes in the renal cortex and their relationship with loss of renal function in renal transplant patients with delayed graft function

Inflammatory cell infiltration and residual areas of fibrosis in kidneys after renal transplantation can lead to functional abnormalities with long-term implications.

Authors: Miguel Moyses Neto, Elen A Romão, Gyl EB Silva, Marcio Dantas, Maria EP Nardim, Sylvio Tucci Jr, Heloísa DC Francescato and Terezila M Coimbra

Efficacy and safety data of subsequent entry biologics pertinent to nephrology practice: a systematic review

Subsequent entry biologics (SEBs) may soon be a reality in Canadian nephrology practice. Understanding the worldwide experience with these agents will be valuable to Canadian clinicians.

Authors: Judith Genevieve Marin, Marianna Leung, Clifford Lo, Nicole W Tsao and Daniel J Martinusen

Kidney function, albuminuria and life expectancy

Lower estimated glomerular filtration rate is associated with reduced life expectancy. Whether this association is modified by the presence or absence of albuminuria, another cardinal finding of chronic kidney...

Authors: Tanvir Chowdhury Turin, Sofia B Ahmed, Marcello Tonelli, Braden Manns, Pietro Ravani, Matthew James, Robert R Quinn, Min Jun, Ron Gansevoort and Brenda Hemmelgarn

Potential impact of subsequent entry biologics in nephrology practice in Canada

Subsequent entry biologics may soon be a reality in Canadian nephrology practice. Along with opportunities to reduce health care costs, these agents pose unique challenges that must be met for successful imple...

Authors: Daniel J Martinusen, Clifford Lo, Judith G Marin, Nicole W Tsao and Marianna Leung

Organ donation and transplantation in Canada: insights from the Canadian Organ Replacement Register

To provide an overview of the transplant component of the Canadian Organ Replacement Register (CORR).

Authors: Sang Joseph Kim, Stanley SA Fenton, Joanne Kappel, Louise M Moist, Scott W Klarenbach, Susan M Samuel, Lianne G Singer, Daniel H Kim, Kimberly Young, Greg Webster, Juliana Wu, Frank Ivis, Eric de Sa and John S Gill

The Steroids In the Maintenance of remission of Proliferative Lupus nephritis (SIMPL) pilot trial

Patients with proliferative lupus nephritis are at risk of frequent relapses. Whether low- dose prednisone prevents relapses is uncertain.

Authors: Lauren Galbraith, Braden Manns, Brenda Hemmelgarn and Michael Walsh

Canadian chronic kidney disease clinics: a national survey of structure, function and models of care

The goals of care for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are to delay progression to end stage renal disease, reduce complications, and to ensure timely transition to dialysis or transplantation, while...

Authors: Adeera Levin, Soroka Steven, Allu Selina, Au Flora, Gil Sarah and Manns Braden

A budget impact analysis of the introduction of erythropoiesis stimulating agent subsequent entry biologics for the treatment of anemia of chronic kidney disease in Canada

In Europe, epoetin subsequent entry biologics (SEBs) have been in use since 2007. Canadian patents of erythropoietin stimulating agents are expiring in 2014, therefore it is predicted that epoetin SEBs will pe...

Authors: Nicole W Tsao, Clifford Lo, Marianna Leung, Judith G Marin and Dan Martinusen

Health care prioritization: a clinician’s duty

Publicly funded health care systems are increasingly confronted with fiscal and demographic challenges and face pressure to constrain resource use without impacting clinical outcomes.

Authors: Lianne Barnieh, Cam Donaldson and Braden Manns

Patient engagement and patient-centred care in the management of advanced chronic kidney disease and chronic kidney failure

The purpose of this article is to review the current status of patient-centred care (PCC) and patient engagement (PE) in the management of patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage rena...

Authors: Robert Allan Bear and Suzanne Stockie

Use of a national continuing medical education meeting to provide simulation-based training in temporary hemodialysis catheter insertion skills: a pre-test post-test study

Simulation-based-mastery-learning (SBML) is an effective method to train nephrology fellows to competently insert temporary, non-tunneled hemodialysis catheters (NTHCs). Previous studies of SBML for NTHC-inser...

Authors: Edward G Clark, James J Paparello, Diane B Wayne, Cedric Edwards, Stephanie Hoar, Rory McQuillan, Michael E Schachter and Jeffrey H Barsuk