Dialysis News

• ACEIs, ARBs Safe to Continue in COVID-19: Trial Published The BRACE-CORONA trial showed no difference in major outcomes for those continuing and those discontinuing these common blood pressure medications.
  Medscape Medical News, January 20, 2021
• When Packed Hospitals Cannot Handle Non-Covid Patients "This is the first time since I have been here that we've had a scenario where multiple hospitals, for longer periods of time, are experiencing some kind of shortages," said Cindy Samuelson.
  Kaiser Health News, January 11, 2021
• Medicare Coverage of Kidney Transplant Drugs Is Extended A 20-year effort has prevailed in a new US law that lengthens Medicare coverage of antirejection drugs for kidney transplant patients beyond the current 36 months, a win-win situation for all involved parties.
  Medscape Medical News, December 24, 2020
• Dialysis Frequency Can Be Safely Reduced During Pandemic Under Certain Conditions To reduce the risk of COVID-19 exposure and transmission between patients, a large renal service in the UK safely converted some of their hemodialysis patients from three to two weekly dialysis sessions.
  Reuters Health Information, December 17, 2020
• The Lifesaving Potential of Less-Than-Perfect Donor Kidneys Demand for healthy kidneys has long outstripped supply. But better testing and treatment are expanding the donor pool.
  Undark, December 17, 2020
• Kidney Dialysis Is a Booming Business. Is it Also a Rigged One? A new California law aims to curb what sponsors say is profiteering by dialysis centers. But are there any easy answers?
  Undark, December 14, 2020
• Dialysis Industry Emerges as Power Player in California Politics The dialysis industry has poured $233 million into California campaigns, establishing its leading companies as a formidable political force eager to protect their bottom line and influence state policy.
  Kaiser Health News, December 10, 2020
• New CREDENCE Data Support SGLT2 Inhibitor Use in Advanced CKD 'We would not recommend initiating treatment with SGLT2 inhibitor in eGFR < 30 until results of the other pending trials are available,' but new CREDENCE data add to the evidence base, say investigators.
  Medscape Medical News, December 04, 2020
• New Guidelines Address Diabetes Management in Kidney Disease The Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) synopsis document is aimed at primary care physicians and non-nephrology specialists, as well as kidney experts.
  Medscape Medical News, November 09, 2020
• 'Kidney' vs 'Renal': Experts Say Words Matter A consensus report from KDIGO recommends using 'kidney' instead of 'renal' when referring to most kidney disease and function, but there has been pushback.
  Medscape Medical News, November 06, 2020
• COVID-19 Shortages Prompt Tough Decisions at Bedside Clinician feedback highlights how shortages of PPE, beds, and staff left some frontline providers on their own to make difficult patient care decisions.
  Medscape Medical News, November 06, 2020
• First Tool to Specifically Assess Fatigue in Dialysis Is Validated The SONG-HD Fatigue instrument was validated for the assessment of fatigue in patients undergoing hemodialysis in a longitudinal study.
  Medscape Medical News, November 03, 2020
• KidneyWeek 2020 Study Supports Citrate Over Heparin Anticoagulation for Continuous Dialysis A large randomized controlled trial supports the use of regional citrate over heparin anticoagulation to help prevent blood clot formation at the filter in patients receiving continuous dialysis therapies.
  Reuters Health Information, October 26, 2020
• Protein Predicts Risk of AKI in COVID-19 Patients High levels of suPAR on hospital admission dramatically increase the risk of acute kidney injury and need for dialysis in patients with COVID-19.
  Medscape Medical News, October 13, 2020
• New Biomarkers Useful for Preventing, Managing Acute Kidney Injury New biomarkers can be used in combination with clinical information to improve the prevention and management of acute kidney injury, according to a consensus report from the ADQI.
  Reuters Health Information, October 07, 2020
• Success of AV Fistulas for Dialysis Varies Between Countries Successful creation and use of arteriovenous fistulas for dialysis patients is much higher in Japan than elsewhere, which may reflect expertise gained from a longer history of fistula use there.
  Medscape Medical News, October 08, 2020
• HFSA 2020 Dapagliflozin's CKD Performance Sends Heart Failure Messages The DAPA-CKD trial results have important messages for cardiologists, especially heart failure physicians.
  Medscape Medical News, October 05, 2020
• Death Knell for Phosphate Binders in Nondialysis CKD Patients? Lanthanum carbonate, a noncalcium phosphate binder, does not appear to improve outcomes in CKD patients who are not yet on dialysis; trial is longest to date but one of many to fail to show an impact.
  Medscape Medical News, October 05, 2020
• Acute Kidney Injury in COVID-19 Varies, but It Is Deadly Variations in patient characteristics may explain why the incidence of acute kidney injury in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 differs from place to place. But once AKI occurs, it doesn't bode well anywhere.
  Medscape Medical News, September 30, 2020
• EASD 2020 VERTIS CV: Ertugliflozin Benefit Falls Short of Other SGLT2 Inhibitors Analyses from the trial of the sodium-glucose transporter 2 inhibitor ertugliflozin in patients with type 2 diabetes helped better define positive effects the drug had on renal function.
  Medscape Medical News, September 25, 2020