INSIGHT potentially prevents and treats depressive and anxiety symptoms in black women caring for chronic hemodialysis recipients.

End stage renal disease (ESRD) unduly affects black families in the U.S., including black women who are the family caregivers of affected patients.

Dialysis catheter-induced superior vena cava syndrome and downhill esophageal varices.

Superior vena cava stenosis is a well-documented complication of central venous dialysis catheters. Rarely, this obstruction can lead to the formation of downhill esophageal varices. We present a case of esophageal varices as a complication of dialysis catheter-induced superior vena cava stenosis, which became symptomatic after the placement of an upper extremity arteriovenous graft and resolved with percutaneous angioplasty and stenting of the superior vena cava stricture.

End-stage renal disease and its treatment in Latin America in the twenty-first century.

The Latin American Society of Nephrology and Arterial Hypertension's Dialysis and Transplant Registry was chartered in 1991. It collects information on ESRD and its treatment in 20 countries of the region. The prevalence of patients on renal replacement therapy (RRT) increased from 129 pmp in 1992 to 447 pmp in 2004; in 2004, 56% of the patients were on hemodialysis, 23% on peritoneal dialysis, and 21% had a functioning kidney graft.

Heart rate variability and mortality in patients with end stage renal disease.

Heart rate variability (HRV), a measure of autonomic function, is associated with mortality in non-end stage renal disease (ESRD). The purpose of this pilot study was to determine if HRV was predictive of mortality in patients on dialysis and to identify at-risk factors. Patients on chronic hemodialysis (n = 53) were assessed at baseline and again 24 months later.

Iron requirements in hemodialysis.

The correction of anemia in dialysis patients with erythropoietin (EPO) can be frustrated by insufficient iron. To address this effect, we preloaded candidate EPO patients with intravenous iron in the early 1990s. Preloading with 900-1,525 mg of iron yielded the following results: 70% of patients had increasing hematocrits (HCTs) without EPO, and 40% of patients had HCTs greater than 30%.