[Renal involvement in monoclonal gammopathy and multiple myeloma].

Lymphoproliferative disorders often involve the kidney either by direct cell infiltration (lymphoma) or by deposition of paraproteins (monoclonal gammopathy, multiple myeloma, LCDD, amyloidosis). Nowadays the latter phenomenon seems to be the most common as a result of the growing number of elderly people affected by monoclonal gammopathies. The nephrotoxic potential of monoclonal immunoglobulins and amyloidogenic proteins make monoclonal gammopathies clinical entities of considerable interest in nephrology.

Efficacy and (pharmaco)kinetics of one single dose of rasburicase in patients with chronic kidney disease.

Aims: Hyperuricemia is a risk factor associated with cardiovascular and renal disease. Recently, rasburicase, a recombinant urate oxidase, has been developed for the treatment of hyperuricemia in patients with primarily hematological malignancies. We studied the pharmacokinetics and metabolism of rasburicase in the treatment of chronic asymptomatic hyperuricemia in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients.

Biofeedback in dialysis.

The traditional control of the dialysis session comes about by means of an open-loop system. At the beginning of the session some parameters are set, such as the kind of dialyzer, the blood flow, the ultrafiltration rate, the dialysate conductivity and the dialysate temperature. Generally speaking, these parameters are not modified unless there occur complications in the patient that call for adjustments to be made.

A multiorgan donor cancer screening protocol: the Italian Emilia-Romagna region experience.

Background: We describe the Emilia-Romagna screening protocol for all multiorgan donors within this region of Italy and report on the first 2 years of implementation.

Setting: Setting is a 24-hour multidisciplinary call service covering the 16 intensive care units in Emilia-Romagna (3,969,000 inhabitants) and a centralised pathology center, directed by a transplant coordination center. STUDY POPULATION AND PERIOD: All 271 effective donor candidates presenting in Emilia-Romagna in 2001-2002.

Donor Action program in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.

Context: The high demand for organs for transplantation necessitates enhancement of organ procurement activity worldwide.

Objective: To detect critical areas in the organ donation process and to assess whether careful monitoring of deaths in each intensive care unit could improve rates of identification of brain death.

Design: Records of patients who died in intensive care units in the Emilia-Romagna region between July 1, 1998 and June 30, 2000 were reviewed through the Donor Action program.

[Renal transplantation and malignancies: A single-centre experience (25 years)].

Background: The prevalence of post-transplant malignancies, in renal transplant recipients, is higher than that expected in age and sex-matched controls from the general population, and there is a markedly increased incidence of certain cancers.

Methods: In 1137 renal transplant recipients (1020 from cadaveric and 117 from living donors, M/F 771/366) performed at the S. Orsola Renal Transplantation Centre since 10/1976 to 9/2001, we studied the post-transplant cancer prevalence, the correlation between cancer prevalence and population characteristics, the risk factors (smoke, cancer history, positive HBsAg and antiHCV infection) and the immunosuppressive therapy.

Renal transplantation in patients with microscopic polyarteritis and antimyeloperoxidase antibodies: report of three cases.

This paper reports on 3 patients on renal dialysis for crescentic glomerulonephritis associated with microscopic polyarteritis (MPA) and antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies specific for myeloperoxidase (MPO-ANCAs). They successfully underwent renal transplantation from a cadaver donor 6-63 months after the onset of the disease, despite the persistence of antibodies at high titer. A triple immunosuppressive regimen including steroids, cyclosporin and azathioprine was used.

Posttraumatic chyluria due to lymphorenal fistula regressed after somatostatin therapy.

A sudden-onset chyluria after trauma was evaluated giving evidence of a lymphatic-urinary fistula in the right kidney. Treatment with somatostatin normalized the urinary pattern and the result was maintained even after the discontinuation of the therapy.