Calciphylaxis, also known as calcific uremic arteriolopathy, is a rare syndrome that typically causes skin necrosis and usually affects dialysis patients. Its pathogenesis is multifactorial and is ...the consequence of many factors causing ectopic calcifications in patients with chronic kidney disease, such as calcium-phosphate metabolism disorders, hyper- or hypo-parathyroidism, diabetes, obesity, systemic inflammation and the use of vitamin K antagonists, among others. From a clinical point of view, calciphylaxis may progress from painful purpura to extensive areas of skin necrosis that can potentially lead to superinfection and the death of the patient due to sepsis. Treatment is primarily based on managing the wounds, eliminating all the possible precipitating factors of ectopic calcification and administering agents which are capable of inhibiting the process of calcification. Resumen: La calcifilaxis, también denominada arteriolopatía urémica calcificante, es un síndrome raro que causa típicamente necrosis cutánea y que afecta principalmente a los pacientes en diálisis. La patogénesis es multifactorial y depende de la suma de todos los factores que producen calcificaciones ectópicas en el paciente con enfermedad renal crónica, como las alteraciones del metabolismo calcio-fósforo, el hiper o el hipoparatiroidismo, la diabetes, la obesidad, la inflamación sistémica y el uso de inhibidores de vitamina K, entre otros. Desde un punto de vista clínico, la calcifilaxis puede evolucionar desde una púrpura dolorosa hasta extensas áreas de necrosis cutánea que pueden sobreinfectarse y llegar a causar el fallecimiento del paciente por sepsis. El tratamiento se basa fundamentalmente en el manejo de las heridas, la eliminación de todos los elementos que puedan precipitar la calcificación ectópica y el uso de agentes inhibidores del proceso de calcificación. Keywords: Calciphylaxis, Vascular calcifications, Hyperparathyroidism, Bisphosphonates, Palabras clave: Calcifilaxis, Calcificaciones vasculares, Hiperparatiroidismo, Bifosfonatos
Background.
In kidney transplant recipients, there is discordance between the development of cellular and humoral response after vaccination against SARS-CoV-2. We sought to determine the interplay ...between the 2 arms of adaptive immunity in a 3-dose course of mRNA-1273 100 μg vaccine.
Methods.
Humoral (IgG/IgM) and cellular (N- and S-ELISpot) responses were studied in 117 kidney and 12 kidney-pancreas transplant recipients at the following time points: before the first dose, 14 d after the second dose‚ and before and after the third dose, with a median of 203 and 232 d after the start of the vaccination cycle, respectively.
Results.
After the second dose, 26.7% of naive cases experienced seroconversion. Before the third dose and in the absence of COVID-19, this percentage increased to 61.9%. After the third dose, seroconversion occurred in 80.0% of patients. Naive patients who had at any time point a detectable positivity for S-ELISpot were 75.2% of the population, whereas patients who maintained S-ELISpot positivity throughout the study were 34.3%. S-ELISpot positivity at 42 d was associated with final seroconversion (odds ratio‚ 3.14; 95% confidence interval‚ 1.10-8.96;
P
= 0.032). Final IgG titer was significantly higher in patients with constant S-ELISpot positivity (
P
< 0.001).
Conclusions.
A substantial proportion of kidney transplant recipients developed late seroconversion after 2 doses. Cellular immunity was associated with the development of a stronger humoral response.
La calcifilaxis, también denominada arteriolopatía urémica calcificante, es un síndrome raro que causa típicamente necrosis cutánea y que afecta principalmente a los pacientes en diálisis. La ...patogénesis es multifactorial y depende de la suma de todos los factores que producen calcificaciones ectópicas en el paciente con enfermedad renal crónica, como las alteraciones del metabolismo calcio-fósforo, el hiper o el hipoparatiroidismo, la diabetes, la obesidad, la inflamación sistémica y el uso de inhibidores de vitamina K, entre otros. Desde un punto de vista clínico, la calcifilaxis puede evolucionar desde una púrpura dolorosa hasta extensas áreas de necrosis cutánea que pueden sobreinfectarse y llegar a causar el fallecimiento del paciente por sepsis. El tratamiento se basa fundamentalmente en el manejo de las heridas, la eliminación de todos los elementos que puedan precipitar la calcificación ectópica y el uso de agentes inhibidores del proceso de calcificación.
Calciphylaxis, also known as calcific uraemic arteriolopathy, is a rare syndrome that typically causes skin necrosis and usually affects dialysis patients. Its pathogenesis is multifactorial and is the consequence of many factors causing ectopic calcifications in patients with chronic kidney disease, such as calcium-phosphate metabolism disorders, hyper- or hypo-parathyroidism, diabetes, obesity, systemic inflammation and the use of vitamin K antagonists, among others. From a clinical point of view, calciphylaxis may progress from painful purpura to extensive areas of skin necrosis that can potentially lead to superinfection and the death of the patient due to sepsis. Treatment is primarily based on managing the wounds, eliminating all the possible precipitating factors of ectopic calcification and administering agents which are capable of inhibiting the process of calcification.
Although prognosis of lupus nephritis has improved over time, a substantial amount of lupus patients still reach end-stage renal disease and require dialysis. Treatment of these patients can be ...challenging, since the disease poses a number of problems that can portend a poor prognosis, such as infections, lupus reactivations, vascular access thrombosis and cardiovascular complications. Consensus is lacking among investigators about the real incidence of these complications and related diagnosis and treatment. Moreover, the choice of the type of dialysis treatment and the overall prognosis are still a matter of debate. In this paper, we have reviewed the currently available literature in an attempt to answer the most controversial issues about the topic.
Erdheim-Chester disease (ECD) is a life-threatening multi-systemic non-Langerhans histiocytosis with cardiovascular complications as the leading cause of death. ECD affects the kidneys in up to 30% ...of cases, with fibrotic tissue deposition in the perirenal fat and renal hilum. Diagnosis is usually based on histological analysis of the pathologic tissue, which typically shows xanthogranulomatous infiltrates of foamy CD68+/CD1a- histiocytes surrounded by fibrosis. A consistent percentage of patients affected by ECD develop renal failure and hypertension as a consequence of renal artery stenosis and hydronephrosis. These conditions have been generally treated with the placement of stents and nephrostomies that frequently led to disappointing outcomes. Before the introduction of interferon-alpha (IFNα) treatment, the mortality rate was as high as 57% in the long term. Recent studies have granted new insights into the pathogenesis of ECD, which seems to bear a dual component of clonal and inflammatory disease. These advances led to use specific therapies targeting either the oncogenes (BRAF(V600E)) or the effectors of the immune response implicated in ECD (IL-1, TNFα). Drugs such as anakinra (recombinant human IL-1 receptor antagonist), infliximab (monoclonal antibody against TNFα) and vemurafenib (inhibitor of mutant BRAF) showed promising results in small single-centre series. Although larger trials will be needed to address the impact of these drugs on ECD prognosis and to select the most effective treatment, targeted therapies hold the premises to drastically change the outcome of this condition.
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