KDIGO clinical practice guideline for the care of kidney transplant recipients: a summary.

The 2009 Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) clinical practice guideline on the monitoring, management, and treatment of kidney transplant recipients is intended to assist the practitioner caring for adults and children after kidney transplantation. The guideline development process followed an evidence-based approach, and management recommendations are based on systematic reviews of relevant treatment trials. Critical appraisal of the quality of the evidence and the strength of recommendations followed the Grades of Recommendation Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach.

Adequacy of dialysis: the patient's role and patient concerns.

The patient's role in adequacy of hemodialysis is demanding and complex. It requires meticulous attention to initiating, accepting, and maintaining extraordinary behavioral change. This includes the following: (1) major alteration of dietary habits, often contrary to a patient's familial and cultural customs; (2) compliance with a new, voluminous medication routine, often straining personal finances; (3) reallocation of time for transportation, treatment, and partial recovery, frequently consuming a minimum of 6 to 8 hours 3 days each week; (4) psychologic adjustment to unaccustomed chronic dependency on, and accountability to, an array of variably experienced and competent renal care staff; (5) skills, seldom taught, required to communicate clearly and regularly with overworked medical professionals who are often much younger with less life experience; and (6) additional commitment to compensating for the physical fatigue that routinely accompanies hemodialysis.

Prevalence and outcomes of multiple-listing for cadaveric kidney and liver transplantation.

Transplant candidates are permitted to register on multiple waiting lists. We examined multiple-listing practices and outcomes, using data on 81 481 kidney and 26 260 liver candidates registered between 7/1/95 and 6/30/00. Regression models identified factors associated with multiple-listing and its effect on relative rates of transplantation, waiting list mortality, kidney graft failure, and liver transplant mortality.

ESRD patient quality of life: symptoms, spiritual beliefs, psychosocial factors, and ethnicity.

Background: Recent research suggests that patients' perceptions may be more important than objective clinical assessments in determining quality of life (QOL) for patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD).

Methods: We interviewed 165 hemodialysis patients from 3 sites using a QOL questionnaire that included the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) and the McGill QOL (MQOL) scale, which includes a single-item global measure of QOL (Single-Item QOL Scale [SIS]). The MQOL scale asks patients to report their most troublesome symptoms.