Haemodialysis for paediatric acute kidney injury in a low resource setting: experience from a tertiary hospital in South West Nigeria

Background

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is an important cause of preventable mortality among children. Management of AKI may require renal replacement therapy (RRT) but access to RRT for children in low resource settings is limited. Our study explored the role of haemodialysis in the management of children with AKI in a low resource setting in terms of aetiology and outcomes.

Methods

A review of patients managed in the Paediatric Nephrology Unit, University College Hospital Ibadan, South-West Nigeria, who underwent haemodialysis for AKI from January 2006 to December 2014.

Results

Sixty-eight patients (55.9% males), aged 3–16 (mean ± standard deviation, 9.0 ± 3.4) years were studied. The causes of AKI were sepsis (22.1%), malaria (17.6%) and glomerulonephritis (17.6%), intravascular haemolysis—cause unknown (16.2%), G6PDH deficiency (7.4%), malignancy (8.8%) and haemoglobinopathy (5.9%). The number of sessions of haemodialysis ranged from 1 to 10 (mode = 2 sessions) over a period of 1–55 days. Mortality was 27.9% (n = 19) and was related to the aetiology of AKI (P = 0.000): no deaths among patients with intravascular haemolysis or malaria, six deaths among patients with sepsis (40%), six (50%) among the patients with glomerulonephritis, while all the patients with malignancies died.

Conclusions

The outcome of haemodialysis for AKI in Nigeria is relatively good and is related to the underlying aetiology of AKI. In addition to peritoneal dialysis, intermittent haemodialysis may have a role in the management of paediatric AKI in low resource settings and should be supported.

Cinacalcet, dialysate calcium concentration, and cardiovascular events in the EVOLVE trial

Among patients receiving hemodialysis, abnormalities in calcium regulation have been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular events. Cinacalcet lowers serum calcium concentrations through its effect on parathyroid hormone secretion and has been hypothesized to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events. In observational cohort studies, prescriptions of low dialysate calcium concentration and larger observed serum-dialysate calcium gradients have been associated with higher risks of in-dialysis facility or peri-dialytic sudden cardiac arrest. We performed this study to examine the risks associated with dialysate calcium and serum-dialysate gradients among participants in the Evaluation of Cinacalcet Hydrochloride Therapy to Lower Cardiovascular Events (EVOLVE) trial. In EVOLVE, 3883 hemodialysis patients were randomized 1:1 to cinacalcet or placebo. Dialysate calcium was administered at the discretion of treating physicians. We examined whether baseline dialysate calcium concentration or the serum-dialysate calcium gradient modified the effect of cinacalcet on the following adjudicated endpoints: (1) primary composite endpoint (death or first non-fatal myocardial infarction, hospitalization for unstable angina, heart failure, or peripheral vascular event); (2) cardiovascular death; and (3) sudden death. In EVOLVE, use of higher dialysate calcium concentrations was more prevalent in Europe and Latin America compared with North America. There was a significant fall in serum calcium concentration in the cinacalcet group; dialysate calcium concentrations were changed infrequently in both groups. There was no association between baseline dialysate calcium concentration or serum-dialysate calcium gradient and the endpoints examined. Neither the baseline dialysate calcium nor the serum-dialysate calcium gradient significantly modified the effects of cinacalcet on the outcomes examined. The effects of cinacalcet on cardiovascular death and major cardiovascular events are not altered by the dialysate calcium prescription and serum-dialysate calcium gradient.