Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis in a patient with nephrogenic ascites during an episode of acute renal transplant rejection

Massive Ascites of Unknown Origin: A Case Report

Ascites is the excessive accumulation of fluid in the peritoneal cavity and predominantly caused by liver cirrhosis, cancers, or heart failure. In this study, a 31-year-old woman with chronic renal failure of unknown etiology treated with hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis was often hospitalized because of ascites, which appeared 4 years after the second kidney transplantation. The patient was regularly (every 2-3 weeks) treated with paracentesis. Peritoneal fluid tested negative for bacterial (including atypical) and fungal infections and tuberculosis. Doppler ultrasound and liver FibroScan did not show any irregularities. Computed tomography (CT) revealed an enlarged left ovary. A high level of CA 125 was found. The second diagnostic laparoscopy revealed no changes in the ovaries, and there were no tumor cells. Diagnostics were extended, but no deviations were revealed. Suspecting drug etiology, mycophenolic acid was discontinued, bringing no improvement. Diagnostic tests caused suspicion of Meigs' syndrome; therefore, oophorectomy of left ovary was conducted, revealing numerous small cysts filled with serous fluid, without tumor cells in the ovary or peritoneal fluid. Despite the procedure performed, ascites was recurrent. Five month later, ascites spontaneously stopped growing. Paracentesis to decompress ascites was no longer required. There were 9 paracenteses performed from oophorectomy (the latest on May 23, 2019). The need for repetitive paracentesis, significantly reducing the patient's quality of life, required diagnosis for casuistic diseases. The described case is atypical because of the confusing etiology of ascites and its spontaneous cessation. Despite numerous examinations and recession of ascites, the cause of the problem is not entirely clear.

Renal vein stenosis with transudative ascites from graft after renal transplantation with good response after percutaneous stent placement

Ascites sometimes occurs as a result of technical complications of transplant surgery or other medical reasons, including hepatic, cardiac, or oncologic pathology. Renal vein stenosis after renal transplant resulting in transudative ascites is rare; thus there are few if any data on such cases. Stent implantation seems to be a safe and elective approach to treatment of this rare condition. We present the case of a 22-year-old woman in whom massive ascites developed 33 months after renal transplantation. After the analysis of the ascites fluid and exclusion of transplant artery stenosis, graft rejection, infection, portal hypertension, and other possible etiologies, the final diagnosis of graft renal vein stenosis with transudative ascites derived from the graft was made based on imaging studies, including Doppler ultrasonography and computed tomography. The patient underwent angiographic stent placement, and the ascites markedly improved after the procedure. Renal vein stenosis complicated with ascites after renal transplantation is highly unusual; the patient's response to angiographic stent placement was beneficial, with satisfactory resolution of the blockage and ascites.

Surgical correction of nephrogenic ascites in a renal transplant recipient

The unusual development of massive ascites, 3 years after renal transplant, caused by undefined, innate renal allograft pathology is described. Challenges of surgical correction of this problem, allowing for salvage of the allograft, are reviewed.

Chylous ascites in a renal transplant recipient under sirolimus (rapamycin) treatment

Ascites is a rare complication of renal transplantation. Ascites has been reported after kidney transplantation due to rejection, decapsulation of the graft, urinary or vascular leak, lymphocele, transudation, or infection. While technical complications of the procedure are the most frequent cause, portal hypertension and graft rejection are other causes. Ascites can occur after renal transplantation independent of kidney function. Usually, a time relation can be made between the surgical procedure and ascites development. Chylous ascites is still more uncommon; it is usually related to traumatic lymphatic injury. Drugs are rarely associated with the genesis of ascites. Sirolimus has been associated with a high rate of lymphoceles, lymphedema, and pulmonary alveolar proteinosis. The exact mechanisms remain unknown. The risk for lymphocele formation with sirolimus is 12% to 15%. Ascites is an adverse effect with an incidence between 3% and 20%, but no relation between sirolimus and chylous ascites was previously established. We present a clinical report of chylous ascites in a renal transplant patient under sirolimus therapy; our investigation pointed to sirolimus as the cause.

Influence of bacterial superantigen TSST-1 against the anti-proliferative efficacy of immunosuppressive drugs and interleukin 2 production in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of hemodialysis patients and healthy subjects

We investigated the influence of bacterial superantigen on the efficacies of immunosuppressive drugs on the blastogenesis of peripheral-blood mononuclear cells of 27 hemodialysis patients awaiting renal transplantation. The IC(50) values for prednisolone, methylprednisolone, cyclosporine, and tacrolimus evaluated in the superantigen-stimulated cells were significantly higher than those evaluated in concanavalin A-stimulated cells (p = 0.0002-0.018). Interleukin-2 amounts produced from superantigen-stimulated cells were significantly larger than those from concanavalin A-stimulated cells (p = 0.0363). These results suggest that superantigen attenuates the suppressive efficacies of glucocorticoids and calcineurin inhibitors by stimulating lymphocytes of hemodialysis patients awaiting transplantation to overproduce interleukin-2.

Ascites and kidney transplantation: case report and critical appraisal of the literature

Ascites is an ominous finding after kidney transplantation. It occurs either as a result of technical complication of the transplant procedure or from medical reasons that include portal hypertension, graft rejection and other causes (1, 2). Here in are described a case of ascites that occurred after successful kidney transplantation. Kidney re-transplantation alone or combined heart and kidney transplantation were possible options for him. Finally, a review of published cases of ascites that occurred after kidney transplantation and treatment of putative nephrogenic ascites (NA) is presented.

Remission of aseptic inflammatory ascites after nephrectomy of a failed allograft

There are multiple possible causes of ascites in patients with end-stage renal disease on hemodialysis therapy. In this report, we describe a patient with chronic hepatitis C infection who presented with refractory inflammatory ascites, along with cachexia, hypoalbuminemia, and erythropoietin resistance associated with the chronic inflammatory state induced by a failed kidney transplant. Evaluation showed only mild hepatic fibrosis, absence of portal hypertension, and no other identifiable cause of the ascites. Furthermore, the inflammatory ascites did not respond to antibiotic therapy, but promptly resolved, along with the other manifestations of the chronic inflammatory state, after transplant nephrectomy. This report describes a novel cause for refractory inflammatory ascites in a patient with a failed kidney transplant and emphasizes the importance of transplant nephrectomy.

Nephrogenic ascites. Analysis of 16 cases and review of the literature

Nephrogenic ascites is an entity that manifests as refractory ascites in patients with end-stage renal disease, where portal hypertensive, infectious, and malignant processes have been excluded. Most of these patients are undergoing hemodialysis. Hypoalbuminemia may predispose these uremic patients to ascites formation. The characteristics of the ascitic fluid suggest that the pathogenesis of the ascites is an alteration in peritoneal membrane permeability or impaired resorption due to peritoneal lymphatic channel obstruction. The ascitic fluid has a high protein content, low serum-ascites albumin gradient (SAAG), and low leukocyte count. Daily hemodialysis should be the initial therapy and is successful in one-third to three-fourths of patients within 3 weeks. Continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis or insertion of a peritoneovenous shunt are alternative treatments. Other therapies include instillation of intraperitoneal corticosteroids and binephrectomy, which have less predictable outcomes. Renal transplantation is the definitive treatment for nephrogenic ascites. Control of ascites reverses the progressive cachexia associated with uncontrolled disease, resulting in improved quality of life and survival approaching that of end-stage renal disease patients without ascites.