Variability in Hemoglobin Levels and the Factors Associated with Mortality in Hemodialysis Patients: A 78-Month Follow-Up Study.

Some studies have described that when the hemoglobin levels of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients change, especially in those taking erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESA), they are associated with unfavorable outcomes such as increased morbidity and mortality, mainly due to cardiovascular events. This prospective cohort study included patients with end-stage renal disease currently undergoing hemodialysis. The initial 6-month clinical evaluation provided data of the variability in hemoglobin, associated blood parameters, and the use of erythropoietin.

Echocardiographic parameters as cardiovascular event predictors in hemodialysis patients.

Background: Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) on hemodialysis have high rates of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Although structural and functional echocardiographic alterations in patients undergoing hemodialysis have been the subject of several survival analysis studies, the prognostic value of these alterations is not well established in literature.

Objective: To determine the prognostic value of echocardiographic parameters in patients with CKD on hemodialysis.

Study of echocardiographic alterations in the first six months after kidney transplantation.

Background: Cardiac disorders are very common in individuals with chronic kidney disease and are associated with morbimortality.

Objective: To evaluate cardiac alterations after kidney transplantation.

Methods: We prospectively evaluated 40 patients with chronic kidney disease, immediately before and one month, three months and six months after kidney transplantation, using tissue Doppler echocardiographic study.

Effect of kidney transplantation on cardiac morphology and function.

Cardiac involvement is very frequent in patients with chronic kidney disease on dialysis. Kidney transplantation results in reducing morbidity and mortality compared to patients on dialysis. The objective of this review was to address the effect of renal transplantation in cardiac structure and function assessed by echocardiography.

Surgical removal of a posttraumatic intracardiac foreign body in a child.

The authors report the successful surgical removal of a foreign body (7 x 1 cm wooden stick) from the right atrial of a 8 year-old child 77 days after a transfixing chest trauma caused by falling over a fence. The clinical presentation was infective endocarditis confirmed by the presence of an intraatrial mass at echocardiography. The postoperative course was uneventful.