SAT0030 A NOVEL ASSOCIATION BETWEEN ANTI-CARBAMYLATED ANTIBODIES AND INTERSTITIAL LUNG DISEASE IN PATIENTS WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

Background:

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is associated with a significant increase in morbidity and mortality in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Therefore, an early diagnosis is fundamental. Anti-carbamylated proteins (Anti-CarP) have been described in different chronic respiratory diseases without a previous history of RA.

Objectives:

The aim of this study was to analyse the association between Anti-CarP and ILD in RA patients.

Methods:

We performed a cross-sectional study, including RA patients fulfilling the 2010 ACR/EULAR criteria. The main population comprised 2 groups: 1) RA patients diagnosed with ILD (RA-ILD group) and 2) RA patients without ILD (non-ILD RA group). ILD was diagnosed by high-resolution tomography and confirmed by a multidisciplinary committee. Three IgG Anti-CarP autoantibodies against fetal calf serum (Anti-FCS), fibrinogen (Anti-Fib), and fibrine/filagrine homocitrullinated peptide (Anti-CFFHP) and one IgA against FCS (Anti-FCS-IgA) were determined by home-made ELISA. Associations between Anti-CarPs and ILD were explored using multivariable logistic regression adjusted by a set of variables known to be related to the development of ILD: smoking, sex, age, RA disease duration, RF and ACPA. An independent replication sample was obtained to validate our findings from another hospital.

Results:

The main population included 179 patients: 37 were included in the RA-ILD group, and 142 in the non-ILD RA group. Most patients were female (79%), with a mean age of 59.7±13 years with a mean disease duration of 6.6±5 years. Baseline features are shown in table 1. The replication sample was composed of 25 patients in the RA-ILD group and 50 patients in the non-ILD RA group. We found that Anti-CarPs specificities were more frequent in RA-ILD patients (Anti-FCS 70% vs. 43%; Anti-Fib 73% vs. 51%; Anti-CFFHP 38% vs. 19%; Anti-CarP-IgA 51% vs. 20%, p<0.05 for all comparisons). Serum mean titers of Anti-CarPs were higher in RA-ILD patients with significant statistical differences for all of them, except Anti-Fib. The multivariate analysis showed that Anti-CarPs specificities were independently associated with ILD (Anti-FCS (OR: 3.42; CI95%: 1.13-10.40), Anti-Fib (OR: 2.85; CI95%: 0.83-9.70), Anti-CFFHP (OR: 3.11; CI95%: 1.06-9.14) and Anti-FCS-IgA (OR: 4.30; CI95%: 1.41-13.04). In the replication sample our findings were validated only for Anti-FCS (OR: 10.42; CI95%: 1.68-64.46).

TABLE 1.

Main population demographic, clinical, therapeutic, and autoantibody status features.

RA-ILDn:37Non-ILD RAn:142p valueFemale (%)25 (68)116 (82)NSAge mean (±SD)67.3 (10.1)57.7 (12.9)<0.005Mean disease duration (±SD)11.6 (7.1)5.3 (13.3)<0.005Ever smokers (%)21 (57)62 (44)NSSmoking cumulative dose (±SD)30.7 (11.1)21.8 (12)<0.005Caucasian (%)31 (84)120 (85)NSTreatmentGlucocorticoids (%)25 (68)81 (57)NScsDMARDs (%)33 (89)132 (86)NSMTX (%)20 (54)95 (67)NSbDMARDs (%)11 (30)36 (25)NSMean DAS28 (±SD)3.71 (1.35)2.74 (1.05)<0.005Erosive disease (%)26 (70)63 (44)<0.005Mean HAQ-DI (CI-95%)0.69 (0.53-0.85)0.31 (0.24-0.38)<0.005ACPA positive (%)29 (78)99 (70)NSMedian titer ACPA (IQR) CU674 (2,215)143 (1,132)NSRF positive (%)28 (76)83 (59)NSMedian titer RF (IQR) IU105 (298)34 (110)NS

Conclusion:

A strong association between RA-ILD and Anti-CarP was found independently of cofounders, including RF and ACPA. Our findings suggest a possible link between Anti-CarP and the development of ILD.

Disclosure of Interests:

Raul Castellanos-Moreira Speakers bureau: Lilly, MSD, Sanofi, UCB, Sebastian Rodriguez-Garcia: None declared, Katherine Cajiao: None declared, Gabriela Jimenez: None declared, Maria Jose Gomara: None declared, Virginia Ruiz Speakers bureau: Lilly, Pfizer, Ivette Casafont-Solé: None declared, Julio Ramirez: None declared, José Gomez Puerta Speakers bureau: Abbvie, Eli Lilly, BMS, Roche and Pfizer, Susana Holgado Pérez: None declared, Juan de Dios Cañete: None declared, Isabel Haro: None declared, Raimón Sanmartí Speakers bureau: Abbvie, Eli Lilly, BMS, Roche and Pfizer

FRI0053 PROLIFERATIVE SYNOVITIS, AN ULTRASOUND PATTERN ASSOCIATED WITH ACPA POSITIVE RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

Background:

Seronegative (sero-) and seropositive (sero+) Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) have different genetic, immunopathological and vascular morphology features, but no previous studies have analyzed if US characteristics differ between sero+ or sero- RA. Our preliminary studies suggest that sero+ RA is associated with an expansive synovitis pattern that we have called “proliferative synovitis” (PS)

Objectives:

To analyze potential differences between patients with RA according to their autoantibody status by using ultrasonography (US). We aimed to assess whether PS is associated with ACPA+ pts

Methods:

We collected clinical, epidemiological data and bilateral carpal and hand US images of pts with RA. Synovial hypertrophy (SH), Power Doppler signal (PD) and total score (sum of scores of SH and PD) in wrist and hand (1-5 metacarpophalangeal) were assessed. We evaluated the presence of PS, defined as expansive synovial growth encompassing the concepts of synovial SH grade II and III. We performed synovial biopsies of a subgroup of pts using arthroscopy or US guided in order to see immunohistochemistry differences between “proliferative” and “flat” (non-proliferative) synovitis. Serum levels of angiogenic and inflammatory biomarkers were performed

Results:

Two hundred and five RA patients were collected. Overall, 173 (84.8%) pts were sero+ for RF (68.7%) or ACPA (74.6%), general characteristics are summarized in Table. No significant differences between sero+ and sero- pts in terms of disease activity or therapy were found. PS was present in 55.5% of sero+ pts (55.3% in RF+ and 58.2% in ACPA+ pts) and 16.1% of sero- pts (p=0.0001). Globally, 101 pts (49.2%) had PS. Ninety-six (95.0%) were RF or ACPA positive. Only 5 pts with sero- RA had PS (p=0.001). In the univariate analysis, significantly more pts with PS had erosive disease (72.3% vs 35.0% p=0.0001), higher US scores (p=0.0001) and more of them were taking conventional synthetic Disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (csDMARD) (81.8% vs 69.6% p=0.05). No differences regarding disease activity were found.

In the multivariate analysis erosions [OR 4.90 CI 95% (2.17-11.07) p=0.0001] and ACPA [OR 3.5 CI 95% (1.39-10.7) p=0.09] but not RF status [OR 0.74 CI 95% (0.31-1.71) p=0.483] were independently associated with the presence of PS.

We immunostained synovial biopsies from 23 pts with PS (13 pts) or non-PS (10 pts). PS was significantly associated with higher density of vessels (p=0.042) and a strong trend to a higher density of B, T, Mast cells and macrophages (figure 1). Significantly higher serum levels of angiogenic (Activin A, bFGF, IL18, IL20, PIGF, SDF-1 and VEGF-D) and pro-inflammatory (IL23) cytokines were found in patients with PS (figure 2).

Conclusion:

The presence of “proliferative Synovitis” was significantly associated with ACPA and erosive disease in patients with RA. PS pattern also was associated with higher density of synovial vessels and higher serum levels of angiogenic and inflammatory mediators

Table .Total US pattern p valueN=205Proliferative (N=101)Non proliferative (N=104)Female, n (%)162 (79.4)79 (78.2)83 (80.6)0.57Age, mean (SD) years57.1 (± 14,1)56.3 (± 12.0)58.0 (± 15.9)0.40Current Smoker, n (%)47 (26.9)22 (25.6)25 (28.1)0.73Disease duration, mean (SD) months113.3 (± 105.7)127.7 (± 111.1)99.3 (± 99.3)0.05Erosion, n (%)108 (53.7)73 (72.3)35 (35.0)0.00ACPA, n (%)153 (75.4)89 (89)64 (62.1)0.00RF, n (%)99 (68.3)78 (78)63 (61.2)0.01DAS 28–CRP, mean (SD)2.55 (±1.03)2.66 (±1.04)2.44 (±1.02)0.17GC, n (%)99 (49.3)45 (45.5)54 (52.9)0.32cDMARDs, n (%)152 (75.6)81 (81.8)71 (69.6)0.05bDMARD, n (%)69 (34.3)35 (35.4)34 (33.3)0.76Total US score14.9 (± 11.5)18.8 (± 11.8)11.1 (± 9.9)0.00

*ACPA anti-citrullinated protein antibodies, RF rheumatoid factor, DAS28-CRP Disease Activity Score 28-joint count, CRP C-reactive protein, GC glucocorticoids, bDMARD biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs

Disclosure of Interests:

Ana Belén Azuaga-Piñango: None declared, Beatriz Frade-Sosa: None declared, Roberto Gumucio: None declared, Katherine Cajiao: None declared, Andrea Cuervo: None declared, Raquel Celis: None declared, Jose A. Gómez-Puerta Speakers bureau: Abbvie, BMS, GSK, Lilly, Pfizer, Roche, Raimón Sanmartí Speakers bureau: Abbvie, Eli Lilly, BMS, Roche and Pfizer, Juan de Dios Cañete: None declared, Julio Ramirez: None declared

AB0768 TREATMENT WITH TOFACITINIB IN REFRACTORY PSORIATIC ARTHRITIS. MULTICENTER STUDY OF 87 PATIENTS IN CLINICAL PRACTICE

Background:

Tofacitinib (TOFA) is the first JAKi approved for psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in Europe (July 2018). TOFA has shown efficacy in refractory patients to anti-TNF in Randomized Clinical Trials (RCT) (Gladman D. NEJM 2017; 377: 1525-36).

Objectives:

To assess efficacy and safety of TOFA in clinical practice (CP). To compare the profile of CP with RCT

Methods:

Study of 87 patients of CP with PsA treated with TOFA; Results are expressed as percentage, mean±SD or median [IRQ].

Results:

87 patients (28♀/59♂), mean age of 52.8±11.4 years (Table 1). Pattern of joint involvement was: peripheral (n=60), axial (1) and mixed (26). Presented also enthesitis (49.4%), nail involvement (30.2%) and dactylitis (31%).

Prior TOFA, most patients (80%) received oral prednisone, synthetic immunosuppressants (mean 2.3±0.9) and biological therapy (BT) (3.6±1.9): etanercept (n=58), adalimumab (54), infliximab (31), golimumab (37), certolizumab (30), secukinumab (54), ustekinumab (39) and ixekizumab (2). Apremilast was used in 17.

After a mean follow-up of 12.3±9.3 years from PsA diagnosis, TOFA was started (5 mg/12 h). In 48 (55.2%) TOFA was used in combined therapy: methotrexate (30) and leflunomide (15). In the remaining 39, monotherapy was prescribed.

Patients of CP compared with RCT have a longer duration of PsA, worst functional disability (HAQ) and received a higher proportion of corticosteroids and BT (anti-TNF and non-anti-TNF) (Table 1).

Patients improved in activity indexes (PASI, DAS28, DAPSA) and laboratory test (table 2). Minor side effects were reported in 21 patients (gastrointestinal symptoms), and TOFA was discontinued in 29 due to inefficiency mainly.

Conclusion:

Patients of CP had a longer evolution and received a greater number of biologics than those of RCT. TOFA as in RCT seems effective, rapid and relatively safe for refractory PsA.

Table 1.

Baseline features

CLINICAL TRIALGladmanN=131CLINICAL PRACTICEN=87Age, years (mean±SD)49.5±12.352.8±11.4Sex, n (%)67M/64F (51/49)59M/28F (68/32.2)Duration PsA, years (mean±SD)9.6±7.612,3±9.3HAQ-DI1.3±0.71.4±0.7 (n=26)Swollen joint count, mean±SD12.1±10.65.7±5.8Painful joint count, mean±SD20.5±13.08.0±6.6Elevated CRP, n (%)85 (65)55 (63.2)PASI score, median [IQR]7.6 [0.6-32.2]9.0 [4.2-15]Oral glucocorticoid, n (%)37(28)44(50.5)Concomitant synthetic DMARDs, n (%)- Methotrexate98 (75)30 (34.4)- Leflunomide12 (9)15 (17.2)- Sulfasalazine21 (16)6 (6.9)- Others2 (2)N. of previous TNF inhibitors, mean±SD1.7±1.02.4±1.4Previous use of other biological no anti-TNF, n (%)11 (8)68 (78.2)Table 2.

Table 2. Improvement at 1st, 6thand 12thmonth

Baselinen=871st monthn=776th monthn=5212th monthn=20Nail involvement, n (%)17 (19.5)Improvement, n (%)5 (35.7)6 (60)5 (83.3)Enthesitis, n (%)28 (32.2)Improvement, n (%)8 (47.1)10 (58.8)3 (50)Dactylitis, n (%)16 (18.4)Improvement, n (%)9 (69.2)6 (85.7)0 (0)CRP mg/dl, median [IQR]1.9 [0.3-5]0.5 [0.1-2.2]0.5 [0.3-1.2]0.4 [0.4-3.7]p (vs baseline)0.0040.0050.66DAS28, median [IQR]4.8 [4.1-5.403.7 [2.8-4.6]2.8 [2.2-3.8]2.9 [2.2-3.7]p (vs baseline)<0.001<0.001<0.001DAPSA, median [IQR]28 [18.41-34.05]15.5 [10.1-25.7]9 [6.07-15]4.3 [2.4-8]p (vs baseline)<0.001<0.001<0.001PASI, median [IQR]5 [1-14]1.4 [0-7]0 [0-4]0.05 [0-2.7]p (vs baseline)0.1920.1050.300

Disclosure of Interests:

E. Galindez: None declared, D. Prieto-Peña: None declared, José Luis Martín-Varillas Grant/research support from: AbbVie, Pfizer, Janssen and Celgene, Speakers bureau: Pfizer and Lilly, Beatriz Joven-Ibáñez Speakers bureau: Abbvie, Celgene, Janssen, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Novartis, Pfizer, Olga Rusinovich: None declared, RAQUEL ALMODOVAR Speakers bureau: Abbvie, Celgene, Janssen, Lilly, Novartis, Pfizer.

, Juanjo J Alegre-Sancho Consultant of: UCB, Roche, Sanofi, Boehringer, Celltrion, Paid instructor for: GSK, Speakers bureau: MSD, GSK, Lilly, Sanofi, Roche, UCB, Actelion, Pfizer, Abbvie, Novartis, LARA MENDEZ DIAZ: None declared, Agusti Sellas-Fernández Speakers bureau: Abbott, Lilly, Celgene, Pfizer, Schering-Plough, Janssen, Novartis, and Nordic Pharma, À Martínez-Ferrer: None declared, Rosario Garcia de Vicuna Grant/research support from: BMS, Lilly, MSD, Novartis, Roche, Consultant of: Abbvie, Biogen, BMS, Celltrion, Gebro, Lilly, Mylan, Pfizer, Sandoz, Sanofi, Paid instructor for: Lilly, Speakers bureau: BMS, Lilly, Pfizer, Sandoz, Sanofi, Clara Ventín-Rodríguez: None declared, Julio Ramirez: None declared, Manuel Moreno: None declared, Maria jose Moreno: None declared, María del Carmen Castro Villegas: None declared, Antia Crespo Golmar: None declared, Natalia Palmou-Fontana: None declared, FRANCISCO ORTIZ SANJUAN: None declared, Ximena Elizabeth Larco Rojas: None declared, Antonio Juan Mas: None declared, Christian Y Soleto: None declared, Iñigo Gorostiza: None declared, Miguel A González-Gay Grant/research support from: Pfizer, Abbvie, MSD, Speakers bureau: Pfizer, Abbvie, MSD, Ricardo Blanco Grant/research support from: AbbVie, MSD, and Roche, Speakers bureau: AbbVie, Pfizer, Roche, Bristol-Myers, Janssen, and MSD

EEG Connectivity Analysis Using Denoising Autoencoders for the Detection of Dyslexia

The Temporal Sampling Framework (TSF) theorizes that the characteristic phonological difficulties of dyslexia are caused by an atypical oscillatory sampling at one or more temporal rates. The LEEDUCA study conducted a series of Electroencephalography (EEG) experiments on children listening to amplitude modulated (AM) noise with slow-rythmic prosodic (0.5-1[Formula: see text]Hz), syllabic (4-8[Formula: see text]Hz) or the phoneme (12-40[Formula: see text]Hz) rates, aimed at detecting differences in perception of oscillatory sampling that could be associated with dyslexia. The purpose of this work is to check whether these differences exist and how they are related to children's performance in different language and cognitive tasks commonly used to detect dyslexia. To this purpose, temporal and spectral inter-channel EEG connectivity was estimated, and a denoising autoencoder (DAE) was trained to learn a low-dimensional representation of the connectivity matrices. This representation was studied via correlation and classification analysis, which revealed ability in detecting dyslexic subjects with an accuracy higher than 0.8, and balanced accuracy around 0.7. Some features of the DAE representation were significantly correlated ([Formula: see text]) with children's performance in language and cognitive tasks of the phonological hypothesis category such as phonological awareness and rapid symbolic naming, as well as reading efficiency and reading comprehension. Finally, a deeper analysis of the adjacency matrix revealed a reduced bilateral connection between electrodes of the temporal lobe (roughly the primary auditory cortex) in DD subjects, as well as an increased connectivity of the F7 electrode, placed roughly on Broca's area. These results pave the way for a complementary assessment of dyslexia using more objective methodologies such as EEG.

Significant differences in access to tests and treatments for multiple myeloma between public and private systems in Latin America. Results of a Latin American survey. GELAMM (Grupo de Estudio Latino Americano de Mieloma Múltiple)

The incidence of multiple myeloma (MM) has increased in the last 20 years, particularly in middle and low-middle income countries. Access to diagnostic and prognostic tests and the availability of effective care is highly variable globally. Latin America represents 10% of the world population, distributed in countries of varied size, population, and socio-economic development. In the last decade, great improvements have been made in the diagnosis and treatment of MM. Applying these advances in real life is a challenge in our region. Local data regarding MM standards of care and outcomes are limited. A survey was carried out among hematologists from 15 Latin American countries to describe access to MM diagnostic and prognostic tests and the availability of effective care options. This study provides real-world data for MM in our region, highlighting striking differences between public and private access to essential analyses and therapeutic options.

Stochastic decision trigger modelling to assess the probability of wildland fire impact

The ability to estimate both the time and probability of a wildfire reaching an area to be protected is critically important to preventing loss of human life and property, and damage to ecological and economic assets. Wildfire decision trigger modelling has been used to assess fire exposure and create evacuation trigger buffers around the communities providing a specific amount of warning time. This approach has been applied in multiple scenarios including household-level and community-level evacuation planning and during suppression operations. However, little attention has been paid to input data uncertainty using this modelling approach. This study presents an innovative stochastic fire simulation decision trigger modelling method that produces a probability map of the fire arrival to areas to be protected by simulating (n) wildfire decision trigger buffers with varied input data according to a potential range of deviations. The Tubbs fire (USA) was used as case study to show the applicability of this approach to estimate the probability of wildland fire impact. Our results highlighted the importance of considering input data uncertainty in operational environments to estimate fire progression and decision trigger buffers to better develop suppression tactic and strategy. The method presented may be solved in real-time and used with any empirical fire propagation model as a core engine. Practical real-time implications of this fire simulation mode are discussed.

Safety and probiotic evaluation of two Bacillus strains producing antioxidant compounds

Bacillus species are becoming increasingly relevant for use as probiotics or feed additives where their heat stability can ensure survival in the food matrix or enable long-term storage at ambient temperature. Some Bacillus species are pigmented and in this study, we have examined two strains, one Bacillus pumilus (pigmented red) and the other Bacillus megaterium (pigmented yellow) for their safety for potential use in humans as dietary supplements. In addition, we have set out to determine if they might confer any potential health benefits. Both strains produce C30 carotenoids while the B. pumilus strain also produced large quantities of riboflavin equivalent to genetically modified Bacillus strains and most probably contributing to this strain’s pigmentation. Riboflavin’s and carotenoids are antioxidants, and we have evaluated the ability of vegetative cells and/or spores to influence populations of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii in the colon of mice. While both strains increased levels of F. prausnitzii, spores of the B. pumilus strain produced a significant increase in F. prausnitzii levels. If found to be reproducible in humans such an effect might, potentially, confer health benefits particularly for those suffering from inflammatory bowel disease.

Studying the Manifold Structure of Alzheimer's Disease: A Deep Learning Approach Using Convolutional Autoencoders

Many classical machine learning techniques have been used to explore Alzheimer's disease (AD), evolving from image decomposition techniques such as principal component analysis toward higher complexity, non-linear decomposition algorithms. With the arrival of the deep learning paradigm, it has become possible to extract high-level abstract features directly from MRI images that internally describe the distribution of data in low-dimensional manifolds. In this work, we try a new exploratory data analysis of AD based on deep convolutional autoencoders. We aim at finding links between cognitive symptoms and the underlying neurodegeneration process by fusing the information of neuropsychological test outcomes, diagnoses, and other clinical data with the imaging features extracted solely via a data-driven decomposition of MRI. The distribution of the extracted features in different combinations is then analyzed and visualized using regression and classification analysis, and the influence of each coordinate of the autoencoder manifold over the brain is estimated. The imaging-derived markers could then predict clinical variables with correlations above 0.6 in the case of neuropsychological evaluation variables such as the MMSE or the ADAS11 scores, achieving a classification accuracy over 80% for the diagnosis of AD.

Discriminative Sparse Features for Alzheimer's Disease Diagnosis Using Multimodal Image Data

BACKGROUND

Feature extraction in medical image processing still remains a challenge, especially in high-dimensionality datasets, where the expected number of available samples is considerably lower than the dimension of the feature space. This is a common problem in real-world data, and, specifically, in medical image pro- cessing as, while images are composed of hundreds of thousands voxels, only a reduced number of patients are available.

OBJECTIVE

Extracting descriptive and discriminative features to represent each sample (image) by a small number of features, which is particularly important in classification task, due to the curse of dimensionality problem.

METHODS

In this paper we solve this recognition problem by means of sparse representations of the data, which also provides an arena to multimodal image (PET and MRI) data classification by combining specialized classifiers. Thus, a novel method to effectively combine SVC classifiers is presented here, which uses the distance to the hyperplane computed for each class in each classifier allowing to select the most discriminative image modality in each case. The discriminative power of each modality also provides information about the illness evolution; while functional changes are clearly found in Alzheimer's diagnosed patients (AD) when compared to control subjects (CN), structural changes seem to be more relevant at the early stages of the illness, affecting Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) patients.

RESULTS

Classification experiments using 68 CN, 70 AD and 111 MCI images from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative database have been performed and assessed by cross-validation to show the effectiveness of the proposed method. Accuracy values of up to 92% and 84% for CN/AD and CN/MCI classification are achieved.

CONCLUSIONS

The method presented in this work shows that sparse representations of brain images are of importance for codifying and transferring relevant image features, as they may capture the salient features while maintaining lightweight data transactions. In fact, the method proposed in this work outperforms the classification results obtained using projection methods such as Principal Component Analysis for extracting representative features of the images.

Volume Management by Renal Replacement Therapy in Acute Kidney Injury

Management of fluid balance is one of the basic but vital tasks in the care of critically ill patients. Hypovolemia results in a decrease in cardiac output and tissue perfusion and may lead to progressive multiple organ dysfunction, including the development of acute renal injury (AKI). However, in an effort to reverse pre-renal oliguria, it is not uncommon for patients with established oliguric acute renal failure, particularly when associated with sepsis, to receive excessive fluid resuscitation, leading to fluid overload. In patients with established oliguria, renal replacement therapy may be required to treat hypervolemia. Safe prescription of fluid loss during RRT requires intimate knowledge of the patient's underlying condition, understanding of the process of ultrafiltration and close monitoring of the patient's cardiovascular response to fluid removal. To preserve tissue perfusion in patients with AKI, it is important that RRT be prescribed in a way that optimizes fluid balance by removing fluid without compromising the effective circulating fluid volume. In patients who are clinically fluid overloaded, it is equally important that the amount of fluid removed be as exact as possible. Fluid balance errors can occur as a result of inappropriate prescription, operator error or machine error. Some CRRT machines have potential for significant fluid errors if alarms can be overridden. Threshold values for fluid balance error have been developed which can be used to predict the severity of harm. It is important that RRT education programs emphasize the risk associated with fluid balance errors and with overriding machine alarms.

Changing Metrics of Organ Procurement Organization Performance in Order to Increase Organ Donation Rates in the United States

The shortage of deceased-donor organs is compounded by donation metrics that fail to account for the total pool of possible donors, leading to ambiguous donor statistics. We sought to assess potential metrics of organ procurement organizations (OPOs) utilizing data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) from 2009-2012 and State Inpatient Databases (SIDs) from 2008-2014. A possible donor was defined as a ventilated inpatient death ≤75 years of age, without multi-organ system failure, sepsis, or cancer, whose cause of death was consistent with organ donation. These estimates were compared to patient-level data from chart review from two large OPOs. Among 2,907,658 inpatient deaths from 2009-2012, 96,028 (3.3%) were a "possible deceased-organ donor." The two proposed metrics of OPO performance were: (1) donation percentage (percentage of possible deceased-donors who become actual donors; range: 20.0-57.0%); and (2) organs transplanted per possible donor (range: 0.52-1.74). These metrics allow for comparisons of OPO performance and geographic-level donation rates, and identify areas in greatest need of interventions to improve donation rates. We demonstrate that administrative data can be used to identify possible deceased donors in the US and could be a data source for CMS to implement new OPO performance metrics in a standardized fashion.