Disseminated neonatal herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection is a severe disease with a high mortality rate. Here, we report the patient presented with fulminant hepatic failure secondary to HSV infection followed by renal failure without any mucocutaneous symptoms. The patient recovered after treatment with acyclovir and peritoneal dialysis. This is the first known case of a patient in Korea who survived disseminated HSV infection with fulminant liver failure followed by renal failure without undergoing liver transplantation.
Acyclovir ; Hepatitis ; Herpes Simplex ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Korea ; Liver Failure ; Liver Failure, Acute ; Liver Transplantation ; Mortality ; Peritoneal Dialysis ; Renal Insufficiency ; Simplexvirus

PURPOSE: The aims of the present study are to determine the outcomes after acute aortic occlusion (AAO) and analyze the risk factors for in-hospital mortality. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 24 patients who were diagnosed with AAO from 2002 to 2017 in our registered data. Demographic and radiologic characteristics of AAOs were retrospectively collected. Perioperative treatment outcomes including in-hospital mortality were also assessed and the risk factors of in-hospital mortality were analyzed. RESULTS: The median symptom duration was 21 hours. Five patients had complete paraplegia and 10 patients (41.7%) were initially evaluated for central nervous system disorders instead of acute arterial occlusion. The etiology was determined to be aortoiliac thrombosis in 17 patients (70.8%) and embolic occlusion in 7. Surgical revascularization was performed in 23 patients, and one patient did not receive any treatment. The overall in-hospital mortality was 34.8% (8/23) and 30-day mortality was 26.1%. In the univariate analysis, age (P=0.040), preoperative renal insufficiency (serum creatinine over 1.5 mg/dL at the time of presentation) (P=0.008), postoperative acute kidney injury (need for dialysis or an increase in serum creatinine of >50.0% within 48 hours) (P=0.006), combined external iliac artery occlusion (P=0.019) and combined bilateral internal iliac artery occlusion (P=0.039) were associated with in-hospital mortality. CONCLUSION: A substantial number of AAO patients were initially evaluated for a central nervous system lesion, which led to a delay in diagnosis. Thus, vascular examinations should always be performed in every patient presenting with lower limb neurologic deficits. Age, perioperative renal function, and combined iliac artery occlusion were associated with the prognosis of AAOs.
Acute Kidney Injury ; Aorta, Abdominal ; Central Nervous System ; Central Nervous System Diseases ; Creatinine ; Diagnosis ; Dialysis ; Embolism ; Hospital Mortality ; Humans ; Iliac Artery ; Lower Extremity ; Mortality ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Paraplegia ; Prognosis ; Renal Insufficiency ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Thrombosis

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is characterized by abrupt deterioration of renal function, and its diagnosis relies on creatinine measurements and urine output. AKI is associated with higher morbidity and mortality, and is a risk factor for development of chronic kidney disease. There is no proven medication for AKI. Therefore, prevention and early detection are important. Physicians should be aware of the risk factors for AKI and should monitor renal function in high-risk patients. Management of AKI includes optimization of volume status and renal perfusion, avoidance of nephrotoxic agents, and sufficient nutritional support. Continuous renal replacement therapy is widely available for critically ill children, and this review provides basic information regarding this therapy. Long-term follow-up of patients with AKI for renal function, blood pressure, and proteinuria is recommended.
Acute Kidney Injury* ; Blood Pressure ; Child* ; Creatinine ; Critical Illness ; Diagnosis ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Mortality ; Nutritional Support ; Perfusion ; Proteinuria ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic ; Renal Replacement Therapy* ; Risk Factors

Patient blood management (PBM) is an evidence-based, patient-focused approach to optimize the management of patient and blood transfusion. While PBM is relatively well established in perioperative care, it is not as well established in the medical field. Since anemia in medical patients is heterogeneous and complex in its pathogenesis, the evidence for the threshold of hemoglobin for red blood cell (RBC) transfusion and the use of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) is not strong. While anemia seems to be an adverse risk factor for mortality, it is uncertain if rapid correction of anemia through RBC transfusion can reverse the negative impact of anemia on clinical outcomes. The introduction of ESA is a breakthrough in reducing RBC transfusion and managing anemic patients with renal disease and cancer. Despite promising results from early trials, the United States Food and Drug Administration issued a black box warning for ESAs in 2007 because of concerns about higher mortality, serious cardiovascular and thromboembolic events, and tumor progression. Therefore, the individualized approach to each patient with anemia is recommended in various medical conditions such as acute coronary syndrome, heart failure, chronic kidney disease, and malignancies.
Acute Coronary Syndrome ; Anemia ; Blood Transfusion ; Drug Labeling ; Erythrocytes ; Erythropoietin ; Heart Failure ; Humans ; Iron ; Mortality ; Perioperative Care ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic ; Risk Factors ; United States Food and Drug Administration

BACKGROUND: Limited data are available on the efficacy of statin therapy in stable ischemic heart disease with chronic total occlusion (CTO) without revascularization. We investigated whether statin therapy could be beneficial in stable patients with CTO without revascularization. METHODS: From March 2003 to February 2012, 2,024 patients with at least one CTO were enrolled in a retrospective, single-center registry; 664 of these patients were managed conservatively without an initial revascularization strategy. Among them, we excluded CTO cases involving acute coronary syndrome, in-hospital death or incomplete data and classified 551 patients into statin (n = 369) and non-statin (n = 182) groups according to use of statin at discharge. Propensity score matching analysis was also performed in 148 pairs. The primary outcome was cardiac death. RESULTS: The median overall follow-up duration was 45.7 months (interquartile range: 19.9–70.5 months). Cardiac death occurred in 22 patients (6.0%) in the statin group vs. 24 patients (13.2%) in the non-statin group (P < 0.001). In propensity score matching analysis, statin therapy was associated with a low risk of cardiac death (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 0.39; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.18–0.85; P = 0.022) and major adverse cardiac events (adjusted HR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.43–0.98; P = 0.043). On multivariate analysis, independent predictors for cardiac death were age > 70 years, renal insufficiency, prior myocardial infarction, left ventricular ejection fraction < 40%, proximal-to-mid CTO location, and no use of statin in CTO patients. CONCLUSION: Statin therapy at discharge may be associated with a reduction in long-term cardiac mortality in stable CTO patients without revascularization.
Acute Coronary Syndrome ; Death ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors* ; Mortality ; Multivariate Analysis ; Myocardial Infarction ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Propensity Score ; Renal Insufficiency ; Retrospective Studies ; Stroke Volume

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) or transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) for severe aortic stenosis (AS) is a minimally invasive interventional procedure that repairs a valve without removing the old, damaged valve. Instead, a replacement valve is wedged into the location of the native aortic valve. During TAVR, contrast is used for conventional aortic root angiography, positioning of the TAVR valve device, and assessing the peripheral vasculature. Therefore, contrast-induced acute kidney injury (AKI) is a major concern when performing TAVR and is associated with increased mortality in patients with impaired renal function. Although the exact mechanism of post-TAVR AKI is unknown and appears multifactorial, contrast medium has been reported as a major contributing factor. We report a case of zero-contrast TAVR for severe AS in a patient with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The procedure was successfully performed with only fluoroscopic and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) guidance.
Acute Kidney Injury ; Angiography ; Aortic Valve ; Aortic Valve Stenosis* ; Echocardiography, Transesophageal ; Humans ; Mortality ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic* ; Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement

BACKGROUND: Proenkephalin (PENK) has been suggested as a novel biomarker for kidney function. We investigated the diagnostic and prognostic utility of plasma PENK in comparison with neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) and estimated glomerular filtration rates (eGFR) in septic patients. METHODS: A total of 167 septic patients were enrolled: 99 with sepsis, 37 with septic shock, and 31 with suspected sepsis. PENK and NGAL concentrations were measured and GFR was estimated by using the isotope dilution mass spectrometry traceable-Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) Study and three Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) equations: CKD-EPI(Cr), CDK-EPI(CysC), and CKD-EPI(Cr-CysC). The PENK, NGAL, and eGFR results were compared according to sepsis severity, presence or absence of acute kidney injury (AKI), and clinical outcomes. RESULTS: The PENK, NGAL, and eGFR results were significantly associated with sepsis severity and differed significantly between patients with and without AKI only in the sepsis group (all P<0.05). PENK was superior to NGAL in predicting AKI (P=0.022) and renal replacement therapy (RRT) (P=0.0085). Regardless of the variable GFR category by the different eGFR equations, PENK showed constant and significant associations with all eGFR equations. Unlike NGAL, PENK was not influenced by inflammation and predicted the 30-day mortality. CONCLUSIONS: PENK is a highly sensitive and objective biomarker of AKI and RRT and is useful for prognosis prediction in septic patients. With its diagnostic robustness and predictive power for survival, PENK constitutes a promising biomarker in critical care settings including sepsis.
Acute Kidney Injury ; Cooperative Behavior ; Critical Care ; Diet ; Epidemiology ; Glomerular Filtration Rate* ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Kidney ; Lipocalins* ; Mass Spectrometry ; Mortality ; Neutrophils* ; Plasma ; Prognosis ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic ; Renal Replacement Therapy ; Sepsis* ; Shock, Septic

PURPOSE: This retrospective study evaluated the clinical utility of the delta neutrophil index (DNI) as a predictor of mortality in critically ill surgical patients with Acinetobacter baumannii (AB) pneumonia. METHODS: The medical records of 104 surgical patients with AB pneumonia treated from March 2011 to October 2014 were reviewed and analyzed. RESULTS: The mean patient age was 60.8±18.8 years, and the mean Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score was 15.8±5.3. At the time of culture, 16 patients (15.4%) had renal failure, and the median DNI was 2.7% (0∼39.4%). Twenty-four patients (23.1%) died from infection during intensive care unit admission. Bivariate analysis indicated that several factors were associated with mortality, namely age, occurrence of shock, renal failure, low platelet count and elevated DNI at the time of culture. Logistic regression analysis revealed that elevated DNI (odds ratio [OR], 1.136; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.001∼1.288), acute renal failure (OR, 3.811; 95% CI, 1.025∼14.176) and decreased platelet count (OR, 0.994; 95% CI, 0.989∼1.000) at the time of culture are associated with mortality. When a receiver-operating characteristics curve was constructed to determine the optimal cut-off value to predict mortality within seven days of the bacterial culture, the area under the curve was 0.839 (95% CI, 0.694∼0.985) and the cut-off DNI value was 6.85%. CONCLUSION: DNI may be an effective predictor of mortality in critically ill surgical patients with AB pneumonia.
Acinetobacter baumannii* ; Acinetobacter* ; Acute Kidney Injury ; APACHE ; Critical Illness* ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; Logistic Models ; Medical Records ; Mortality* ; Neutrophils* ; Platelet Count ; Pneumonia* ; Renal Insufficiency ; Retrospective Studies ; Shock

Kidney impairment due to acute kidney injury or chronic kidney disease is a potent risk factor for stroke which is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Patients with kidney impairment have various neurologic complications, including uremic encephalopathy, polyneuropathy, and cognitive impairment as well as higher rates of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke and frequent seizures. Due to hypertension, coagulopathy, platelet dysfunction, and vascular disease, patients with kidney impairment are at high risk for types of catastrophic intracranial hemorrhages and strokes that typically lead to intracranial hypertension and cerebral herniation syndrome. Kidney impairment can alter drug pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, and consequently patients with kidney impairment are at risk of experiencing adverse effects. Several central nervous system imaging modalities are not recommended in patients with compromised kidney function. Therefore, management of acute neurological conditions requires special attention in patients with kidney impairment. Given these common acute neurological conditions, physicians who care for patients with kidney impairment must be aware of evaluation and treatment of neurological diseases to achieve positive neurological outcomes.
Acute Kidney Injury ; Blood Platelets ; Brain Diseases ; Central Nervous System ; Cerebrovascular Disorders ; Cognition Disorders ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Intracranial Hemorrhages ; Intracranial Hypertension ; Kidney Diseases ; Kidney ; Mortality ; Pharmacokinetics ; Polyneuropathies ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic ; Risk Factors ; Seizures ; Stroke ; Vascular Diseases

BACKGROUND: We evaluated early and long-term results after heart transplantation (HTPL). METHODS: One hundred five consecutive patients (male:female=80:25) who underwent HTPL between 1994 and 2013 were enrolled. Based on the changes in immunosuppressive regimen, the study patients were divided into two groups. Early and long-term clinical outcomes were evaluated and compared between the patients who underwent HTPL before (group E, n=41) and after July 2009 (group L, n=64). The group L patients were older (p<0.001), had higher incidence of hypertension (p=0.001) and chronic kidney disease (p<0.001), and more frequently needed preoperative mechanical ventilation (p=0.027) and mechanical circulatory support (p=0.014) than the group E patients. RESULTS: Overall operative mortality was 3.8%, and postoperative morbidities included acute kidney injury (n=31), respiratory complications (n=16), reoperation for bleeding (n=15) and wound complications (n=10). There were no significant differences in early results except acute kidney injury between group E and group L patients. Overall survival rates at 1, 5, and 10 years were 83.8%, 67.7%, and 54.9%, respectively, with no significant difference between the two patient groups. Rejection-free rates at 1 and 5 years were 63.0% and 59.7%, respectively; rates were significantly higher in group L than in group E (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Despite increased preoperative comorbidities, group L patients showed similar early and long-term outcomes and significantly higher rejection-free rates when compared with group E patients.
Acute Kidney Injury ; Comorbidity ; Heart Transplantation* ; Heart* ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Incidence ; Mortality ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic ; Reoperation ; Respiration, Artificial ; Survival Rate ; Transplantation ; Wounds and Injuries