Benefit finding in renal transplantation and its association with psychological and clinical correlates: A prospective study.

Objectives: The identification of positive psychological changes, including benefit finding (BF), in chronic illness has gained substantial interest. However, less is known about BF in the context of a positive medical intervention. End-stage renal disease (ESRD) can be regarded as a burdensome condition, but transplantation is expected to restore physical and psychological functioning to a large extent after a period of illness.

Goal disturbance changes pre/post-renal transplantation are related to changes in distress.

Objective: Renal transplantation (RTx) is considered the treatment of choice for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) given its association with lower mortality, and improved overall quality of life and psychological functioning compared to dialysis. However, much less is known about which factors underlie these psychological improvements across RTx. Goal theory suggests that experienced disturbances in important goals are related to lower psychological functioning.

Changes of perceived control after kidney transplantation: a prospective study.

Aims: The aim of this study was to determine if kidney transplantation is associated with increases of perceived control and how changes of perceived control affect the course of psychological distress until 1 year after transplantation.

Background: Low levels of perceived control are associated with reduced well-being among dialysis patients.

Design: Prospective longitudinal cohort study.

Are patient and relationship variables associated with participation of intimate partners in couples research?

Background: Recruitment of participants for studies focusing on couples facing illness is a challenging task and participation decline may be associated with nonrandom factors creating bias. This study examines whether patient and relationship characteristics are associated with partner participation in research.

Method: Patients invited to participate in a cross-sectional study on adaptation and quality of life after renal transplantation were asked to forward information about an add-on study to their partners.

Great expectations? Pre-transplant quality of life expectations and distress after kidney transplantation: a prospective study.

Objectives: Previous research suggests that prior to kidney transplantation, patients overestimate their post-transplant quality of life (QoL). The current study aimed to corroborate these findings, identify determinants of QoL overestimation, examine its association with subsequent distress, and clarify the role of optimism.

Design: Prospective observational study.

SLC22A2 is associated with tubular creatinine secretion and bias of estimated GFR in renal transplantation.

Genome-wide association studies reported SLC22A2 variants to be associated with serum creatinine. As SLC22A2 encodes the organic cation transporter 2 (OCT2), the association might be due to an effect on tubular creatinine handling. To test this hypothesis we studied the association of SLC22A2 polymorphisms with phenotypes of net tubular creatinine secretion: fractional creatinine excretion (FEcreat) and bias of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR).

The making of a pan-European organ transplant registry.

A European patient registry to track the outcomes of organ transplant recipients does not exist. As knowledge gleaned from large registries has already led to the creation of standards of care that gained widespread support from patients and healthcare providers, the European Union initiated a project that would enable the creation of a European Registry linking currently existing national databases. This report contains a description of all functional, technical, and legal prerequisites, which upon fulfillment should allow for the seamless sharing of national longitudinal data across temporal, geographical, and subspecialty boundaries.

UMOD as a susceptibility gene for end-stage renal disease.

Background: In recent genetic association studies, common variants including rs12917707 in the UMOD locus have shown strong evidence of association with eGFR, prevalent and incident chronic kidney disease and uromodulin urinary concentration in general population cohorts. The association of rs12917707 with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in a recent case-control study was only nominally significant.

Methods: To investigate whether rs12917707 associates with ESRD, graft failure (GF) and urinary uromodulin levels in an independent cohort, we genotyped 1142 ESRD patients receiving a renal transplantation and 1184 kidney donors as controls.

A randomized clinical trial of living donor nephrectomy: a plea for a differentiated appraisal of mini-open muscle splitting incision and hand-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy.

A randomized controlled trial was designed to compare various outcome variables of the retroperitoneal mini-open muscle splitting incision (MSI) technique and the transperitoneal hand-assisted laparoscopic technique (HAL) in performing living donor nephrectomies. Fifty living kidney donors were randomized to MSI or HAL. Primary endpoint was pain experience scored on a visual analogue scale (VAS).

The role of personal characteristics in the relationship between health and psychological distress among kidney transplant recipients.

Although kidney transplantation improves overall quality of life and physical functioning, improvements of psychological distress are often modest. However, apparent stressors such as comorbidity are only weakly associated with psychological distress and their impact differs considerably between patients. Wilson and Cleary proposed a theoretical model to explain these relationships.

CUBN as a novel locus for end-stage renal disease: insights from renal transplantation.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a complex disorder. As genome-wide association studies identified cubilin gene CUBN as a locus for albuminuria, and urinary protein loss is a risk factor for progressive CKD, we tested the hypothesis that common genetic variants in CUBN are associated with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and proteinuria. First, a total of 1142 patients with ESRD, admitted for renal transplantation, and 1186 donors were genotyped for SNPs rs7918972 and rs1801239 (case-control study).

Gastrointestinal symptoms in kidney transplant recipients: what about silent sufferers?

Context: Transplantation improves health-related quality of life in patients with end-stage renal disease. However, primarily because of adverse effects of medication, among other gastrointestinal symptoms, health-related quality of life is not completely restored to normal. Although many patients have various gastrointestinal symptoms only a small proportion may be reported spontaneously.

Matrix metalloproteinases as profibrotic factors in terminal ileum in Crohn's disease.

Background: Returning stenosis in Crohn's disease (CD) patients is poorly understood. After resection, newly developed strictures are seen within 10 years in 50% to 70%. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are involved in matrix-turnover processes.

Shortage of donation despite an adequate number of donors: a professional attitude?

Background: A major problem in the field of transplantation is the persistent shortage of donor organs and tissues for transplantation. This study was initiated to (1) chart the donor potential for organs and tissue in The Netherlands and (2) to identify factors influencing whether donation is discussed with next of kin.

Methods: A registration form was constructed to obtain information at time of death of patients about the demographic characteristics, diagnosis, and medical suitability for donation.