Optimizing Kidney Replacement Therapy During the COVID-19 Pandemic Across a Complex Healthcare System.

The unprecedented surge of nephrology inpatients needing kidney replacement therapy placed hospital systems under extreme stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this article, we describe the formation of a cross campus "New-York Presbyterian COVID-19 Kidney Replacement Therapy Task Force" with intercampus physician, nursing, and supply chain representation. We describe several strategies including the development of novel dashboards to track supply/demand of resources, urgent start peritoneal dialysis, in-house preparation of kidney replacement fluid, the use of unconventional personnel resources to ensure the safe and continued provision of kidney replacement therapy in the face of the unanticipated surge.

Time Is Not Always the Matter: An Instance of Encapsulating Peritoneal Sclerosis Developing in a Patient on Peritoneal Dialysis for a Short Term.

Encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis (EPS) is an infrequent but serious complication that is observed mostly in patients on long-term peritoneal dialysis (PD). However it can occur after short-term PD, in association with "second hit" risk factors such as peritonitis, acute cessation of PD, or kidney transplantation with the use of calcineurin inhibitors.In our case, a young woman with second-hit risk factors presented with clinical and abdominal computed tomography findings consistent with EPS after short-term PD.

Acute Kidney Injury Associated With Vancomycin When Laxity Leads to Injury and Findings on Kidney Biopsy.

The issue of vancomycin-induced acute kidney injury (AKI) has resurged with the use of intravenous vancomycin as a first-line antibiotic, often for prolonged periods of time for the management of serious methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections, and with a higher recommended trough level (15-20 μg/mL). We have observed 3 patients on intravenous vancomycin who developed very high trough levels (>40 μg/mL) and severe (stage 3) AKI. Those 3 patients underwent kidney biopsy for unresolving AKI, which revealed findings compatible with acute tubular necrosis.

Calciphylaxis and subtotal parathyroidectomy: a double-edged sword.

Calciphylaxis, also called calcific uremic arteriolopathy is a dreadful, life-threatening ischemic vasculopathy, primarily involving skin and subcutaneous tissue, mostly on patients with end-stage kidney disease. Calciphylaxis is a well-described, but still a poorly understood disorder of mineral metabolism. Its occurrence is rare, but increasingly reported.