Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR) Values as Predictor of Renal Insufficiency in Advanced Stages of Liver Diseases with Different Etiology

Early Allograft Dysfunction After Live Donor Liver Transplantation: It's Time to Redefine?

BACKGROUND

An ideal definition of early allograft dysfunction (EAD) after live donor liver transplantation (LDLT) remains elusive. The aim of the present study was to compare the diagnostic accuracies of existing EAD definitions, identify the predictors of early graft loss due to EAD, and formulate a new definition, estimating EAD-related mortality in LDLT recipients.

METHODS

Consecutive adult patients undergoing elective LDLT were analyzed. Patients with technical (vascular, biliary) complications and biopsy-proven rejections were excluded.

RESULTS

There were 19 deaths due to EAD of a total of 304 patients. On applying the existing definitions of EAD, we revealed their limitations of being either too broad with low specificity or too restrictive with low sensitivity in patients with LDLT. A new definition of EAD-LDLT (total bilirubin >10 mg/dL, international normalized ratio [INR] > 1.6 and serum urea >100 mg/dL, for five consecutive days after day 7) was derived after doing a multivariate analysis. In receiver operator characteristics analysis, an AUC for EAD-LDLT was 0.86. The calibration and internal cross-validation of the new model confirmed its predictability.

CONCLUSION

The new model of EAD-LDLT, based on total bilirubin >10 mg/dL, INR >1.6 and serum urea >100 mg/dL, for five consecutive days after day 7, has a better predictive value for mortality due to EAD in LDLT recipients.

Effect of Renal or Hepatic Impairment on the Pharmacokinetics, Safety, and Tolerability of Intravenous Rivipansel

Two studies evaluated the effects of renal and hepatic impairment on pharmacokinetics and safety of rivipansel (NCT02813798, NCT02871570). A single intravenous 840-mg rivipansel dose was administered to subjects with renal impairment or normal renal function in study 1005 and subjects with moderate hepatic impairment or normal hepatic function in study 1006. Plasma (both studies) and urine (study 1005) samples were collected for 96 hours postdose. All subjects in studies 1005 (n = 28) and 1006 (n = 16) completed all study procedures. Rivipansel exposure (AUC_inf ) was 47%, 124%, and 437% higher and total clearance 30%, 57%, and 82% lower in the mild, moderate, and severe renal impairment groups, respectively, than in the normal renal function group. Overall rivipansel exposure was 20% lower and total clearance 31% higher in the moderate hepatic impairment group than in the normal hepatic function group. Ten treatment-emergent adverse events occurred in studies 1005 and 1006; no event was considered treatment related. As expected, clearance of rivipansel decreased with increasing renal impairment. The difference observed between rivipansel pharmacokinetics in subjects with moderate hepatic impairment and subjects with normal hepatic function was not considered clinically significant. Single doses of rivipansel were well tolerated in subjects with either renal or hepatic impairment.

Correlation Between MELD and UNa/K Ratio in Predicting Renal Dysfunction in Cirrhotic Patients

Background

Renal dysfunction is one of the dreaded complications of cirrhosis. MELD is a validated chronic liver disease (CLD) severity scoring system. Urinary (U) Na/K ratio closely correlates with renal dysfunction in terms of low GFR in cirrhotic patients.

Patients and Methods

All consecutive patients with decompensated cirrhosis between the age of 18 to 70 years, of either gender, presenting in the outpatients’ department of Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation, Karachi, from June 2015 to June 2017 were included. The MELD score was calculated and the UNa/K ratio less than 1 was taken as surrogate marker of renal dysfunction. Statistical analysis was performed by SPSS (version 20.0).

Results

A total of 71 patients were enrolled. The mean age was 43.79 years and majority were male (67.6%). The most common cause of liver cirrhosis was HCV, found in 42 (59.2%) patients. The mean CTP score was 10.48 ± 2.069 (range: 6–14) with majority of the patients following in class C, that is, 48 (67.6%). Mean MELD score was 21.75 ± 8.96 (range: 8–43). In 57 patients (80.3%), MELD score was > 15.The mean serum creatinine and mean serum sodium were 1.5 ± 1.1 mg/dl (range: 0.37–5.3) and 133.79 ± 6.9 mmol/L (range: 112–152), respectively. Mean urinary sodium and urinary potassium were 38.60 ± 46.64 mmol/L (range: 5–181) and 38.15 ± 23.9 mmol/L (range: 4.3–112), respectively. In majority of study population, UNa/K ratio was below 1, that is, in 52 patients (73.2%). Statistically significant correlation was documented between MELD score and UNa/K ratio (ɤ = 0.34, P = 0.004).

Conclusion

The inverse correlation between MELD scores and UNa/K ratio indicates that patients with CLD and higher MELD scores might have renal dysfunction. This finding however should be corroborated by large scale studies.

Reduction effect of the quantity of radiation exposure and contrast media by image support system in transarterial chemoembolization for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND AND AIM

We confirmed the clinical utility of a three-dimensional navigation system during transarterial chemoembolization.

METHODS

We evaluated 128 tumors in 91 patients enrolled between May 2015 and August 2016. We evaluated the accuracy of the three-dimensional navigation imaging system for all tumors. We compared the patients who were able to undergo route detection using three-dimensional navigation with previously treated patients who underwent transarterial chemoembolization without using three-dimensional navigation (n = 21). For 38 patients who underwent super-selective microcatheter insertion after a feeding artery was identified by three-dimensional navigation, we confirmed the relationship between the tumors and contrasted liver parenchyma and divided the computed tomography hepatic arteriography findings into four grades. Grade 1: an overlap of > 5 mm, grade 2: an overlap between 0 and 5 mm, grade 3: the borders of the tumor within the liver parenchyma but in contact with the edges, and grade 4: a tumor outside the borders of the liver parenchyma.

RESULTS

Using the three-dimensional navigation system, we identified a tumor-feeding artery in 125/128 tumors (97.6%). Furthermore, this system allowed us to significantly reduce the volume of contrast media and the radiation exposure dose in patients undergoing an evaluation. We identified 15 grade 1 tumors (39.5%), 3 grade 2 tumors (7.9%), 11 grade 3 tumors (28.9%), and 9 grade 4 tumors (23.7%) according to our definitions.

CONCLUSION

The three-dimensional navigation is useful not only for patients but also for surgeons who have relatively little experience.

Development and Validation of a Nomogram for Predicting Incidence of Early Allograft Dysfunction Following Liver Transplantation

OBJECTIVE

Early allograft dysfunction (EAD) is frequent complication post-liver transplantation and is closely related to recipient's mortality and morbidity. We sought to develop a nomogram for predicting incidence of EAD.

METHODS

Based on multivariate analysis of donor, recipient, and operation data of 199 liver transplants from deceased donors between 2013 and 2015, we identified 5 significant risk factors for EAD to build a nomogram. The model was subjected to prospective validation with a cohort of 42 patients who was recruited between January and June 2016. The predictive accuracy and discriminative ability were measured by area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). The agreement between nomogram prediction and actual observation was showed by the calibration curve.

RESULTS

Incidence rate of EAD in the training set and validation cohort were 55.91% (104/199) and 54.76% (23/42), respectively. In the training set, according to the results of univariable and multivariable analysis, 5 independent risk factors including donor gender, donor serum gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase level, donor serum urea level, donor comorbidities (respiratory, cardiac, and renal dysfunction), and recipient Model for End-stage Liver Disease score were identified and assembled into the nomogram. The AUC of internal validation using bootstrap resampling and prospective validation using the external cohort of 42 patients was 0.74 and 0.60, respectively. The calibration curves for probability of EAD showed acceptable agreement between nomogram prediction and actual observation. According to the score table, the probability of EAD was under 30% when the total point tally was under 72. But when the total was up to 139, the risk of EAD increased to 60%.

CONCLUSION

We've established and validated a nomogram that can provide individual prediction of EAD for liver transplant recipients. The practical prognostic model may help clinicians to qualify the liver graft accurately, making a more reasonable allocation of organs.

Role of Cystatin C and glomerular filtration rate in diagnosis of kidney impairment in hepatic cirrhosis patients

Hepatic cirrhosis is often accompanied by functional kidney impairment, which may be reversed if early treatment is promptly administered. This study aimed to investigate the role of Cystatin C and Cystatin C estimated glomerular filtration rate in the diagnosis of kidney impairment in patients with hepatic cirrhosis.Four hundred sixty five patients with hepatic cirrhosis were recruited. Serum creatinine and Cystatin C were determined, and their estimated glomerular filtration rates were calculated.The area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (area under curve [AUC]) of Cystatin C and Cystatin C estimated glomerular filtration rate was significantly larger than that of serum creatinine and serum creatinine estimated glomerular filtration rate, respectively (P = .000). When the optimal cut-off value and upper reference limit were used, similar sensitivity, misdiagnosis rate, and diagnostic consistency were only observed in Cystatin C estimated glomerular filtration rate (P > .05).Cystatin C and Cystatin C estimated glomerular filtration rate are superior to serum creatinine and serum creatinine estimated glomerular filtration rate in diagnosis of secondary kidney impairment, and Cystatin C estimated glomerular filtration rate has a better performance as compared with Cystatin C. However, it is not a measured parameter, and thus the lab should determine its own optimal cut-off value.