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Background There is limited current knowledge on feasibility and safety of kidney transplantation in COVID-19 survivors. Methods We present a retrospective cohort study of 75 kidney transplants in patients who recovered from polymerase chain reaction (PCR) confirmed COVID-19 performed across 22 transplant centers in India from July 3, 2020 to January 31, 2021. We detail demographics, clinical manifestations, immunosuppression regimen, laboratory findings, treatment and outcomes. Patients with a previous diagnosis of COVID-19 were accepted after documenting 2 negative SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests, normal chest imaging with complete resolution of symptom for at least 28 days and significant social distancing for 14 days prior to surgery. Results Clinical severity in patients ranged from asymptomatic (n=17, 22.7%), mild(n=36,48%), moderate(n=15,20%) and severe(n=7,9.3%) disease. Median duration between PCR positive to transplant was 60 days (overall) and, increased significantly from asymptomatic, mild, moderate and severe disease (49,57,83,94 days, P-value 0.019) respectively. All recipients and donors were asymptomatic with normal creatinine after surgery at a median (interquartile range) follow up of 81 (56-117) days without any complications relating to surgery or COVID-19. Patient and graft survival was 100%, and acute rejection was reported in 6.6%. Conclusions Prospective kidney transplant recipients post-COVID-19 can be considered for transplantation after comprehensive donor and recipient screening before surgery using a combination of clinical, radiologic, and laboratory criteria, careful pre-transplant evaluation, and individualized risk-benefit analysis. Further large-scale prospective studies with longer follow-up will better clarify our initial findings. Till date, this remains the first largest study of kidney transplantation in COVID-19 survivors.Supplemental Visual Abstract; http://links.lww.com/TP/C180.

To determine the knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding organ donation in western India.Convenience sampling was used to generate a sample of 250; 200 interviews were successfully completed and used for analysis. Data collection was carried out via face to face interviews based on a pre-tested questionnaire in selected public areas of Ahmedabad, Gujarat state of India. Data entry was made in excel software in codes and analysis was done by SPSS software.About 86% of participants were aware of the term organ donation but knowledge about its various aspects was low. About 48% aware people heard about organ donation through medical fraternity, whereas only about 21% became aware through mass media. About 59% of aware people believed there is a potential danger of donated organs being misused, abused or misappropriated. About 47% of aware people said they would consider donating organs, while only 16% said they would definitely donate irrespective of circumstances. Around 97.67% participants said they would prefer to donate to nonsmokers. About 74.41% participants were unaware about any legislation regarding organ donation. About 77% participants showed their will to donate to mentally sound persons, and 42.04% participants showed their will to donate even physically challenged people. Around 78 participants felt that they would donate organs to persons irrespective of their religion. About 81% of aware people were of the opinion that consent for organ donation after death should be given by family members. None of the interviewed participants had a donor card.Better knowledge and awareness will help in promoting organ donation. Effective campaign needs to be driven to educate people with relevant information with the involvement of media, doctors and religious scholars.

According to the Indian chronic kidney disease registry, in 2010 only 2% of end stage kidney disease patients were managed with kidney transplantation, 37% were managed with dialysis and 61% were treated conservatively without renal replacement therapy. In countries like India, where a well-organized deceased donor kidney transplantation program is not available, living donor kidney transplantation is the major source of organs for kidney transplantation. The most common reason to decline a donor for directed living donation is ABO incompatibility, which eliminates up to one third of the potential living donor pool. Because access to transplantation with human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-desensitization protocols and ABO incompatible transplantation is very limited due to high costs and increased risk of infections from more intense immunosuppression, kidney paired donation (KPD) promises hope to a growing number of end stage kidney disease patients. KPD is a rapidly growing and cost-effective living donor kidney transplantation strategy for patients who are incompatible with their healthy, willing living donor. In principle, KPD is feasible for any centre that performs living donor kidney transplantation. In transplant centres with a large living donor kidney transplantation program KPD does not require extra infrastructure, decreases waiting time, avoids transplant tourism and prevents commercial trafficking. Although KPD is still underutilized in India, it has been performed more frequently in recent times. To substantially increase donor pool and transplant rates, transplant centres should work together towards a national KPD program and frame a uniform acceptable allocation policy.

In India, there are a large number of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients waiting for renal transplantation (RT). Organ retrieval from brain dead deceased donor (DD) is getting increased attention as the waiting list for organ recipients far exceeds the organ donor pool. In our country, despite a large population, the number of brain dead donors undergoing organ donation is very less. DDRT is the possible solution to bridge the disparity between organ supply and demand. In India, the potential for DDRT is huge due to the high number of fatal road traffic accidents and this pool is yet to be tapped.We report DDRT outcome in 294 patients (age: 36.5 ± 14.1 years; male:female, 200:94) between 2005 and 2012. All patients received single-dose rabbit-anti-thymocyte globulin for induction and steroids, calcineurin inhibitor, and mycophenolate mofetil/azathioprine for maintenance immunosuppression.Our retrospective study in 294 DDRT shows a fairly successful outcome. Over a mean follow-up of 3.93 years, patient and graft survival rates were 81.7% and 92.6%, respectively, with a median serum creatinine of 1.5 mg/dL. 20.7% had biopsy-proven acute rejection.Given the widespread organ shortage, DDRT has a potential to expand the donor pool and shorten the waiting list for RT, encouraging the use of this approach even in low-income countries. Aggressive donor management, increasing public awareness about the concept of organ donation, good communication between clinician and the family members, and a well-trained team of transplant coordinators can help in improving the number of organ donations.

Renal transplantation (RTx) has now become an accepted therapeutic modality of choice for elderly ESRD patients. This single-center study was undertaken to evaluate the outcome of RTx in ESRD patients ≥55 years. A total of 103 patients underwent RTx 79 living related living donors [LD], 24 deceased donors [DD]) at our center. Post-transplant immunosuppression consisted of calcineurin inhibitor-based regimen. The mean donor age was 58.3 years in the LD group and 59.5 years in the DD group. Male recipients constituted 92% in LD and 75% in DD group. In living donor renal transplantation, 1- and 5-year patient survival was 93% and 83.3% respectively and death-censored graft survival was 97.3% and 92.5% respectively. There were 12.6% biopsy proven acute rejection (BPAR) episodes and 12.6% patients were lost, mainly due to infections. In deceased donor renal transplantation, 1- and 5-year patient survival was 79.1% and 74.5% respectively and death-censored graft survival was 95.8% and 85.1% respectively. There were 12.5% BPAR episodes and 25% of patients were lost, mainly due to infections. RTx in ESRD (≥55 years) patients has acceptable patient and graft survival if found to have cardiac fitness and therefore should be encouraged.

Kidney paired donation (KPD) is a rapidly growing modality for facilitating living donor kidney transplantation (LDKTx) for patients who are incompatible with their healthy, willing and living donor. The impact of donor-recipient age difference on long and short-term graft and patient survivals in LDKTx is still uncertain.A total of 1502 LDKTx recipients who received regular follow-up in our center from 1999 to 2012 were studied. Donor-recipient age difference was divided into subgroups (donor-recipient 0-10, 11-20, 0-20, 21-30, 31-40, and 21-40 years). Outcome measures included death censored graft, patient survival and acute rejection rate.The 1-, 5-, 10-year patient survival of the donor-recipient age difference ≤20 years group showed no difference compared with the age difference20 years group (94.5%, 83.2%, 71.9% and 95.2%, 86%, 77.8%, p = 0.053). The 1-, 5-, 10-year graft survival of the donor-recipient age difference ≤20 years group showed no difference compared with the age difference20 years group (94.6%, 81.6%, 72.1% and 94%, 80%, 72.2%, p = 0.989). The rejection were also similar (17.5% vs. 16.5%, p 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in graft survival and acute rejection rate in all subgroups.Older donors (usually within families) are not associated with worse outcome is reassuring. KPD should not be prohibited due to high donor-recipient age difference, when size of donor pool is small as in single center KPD program.

Limited information is available in the literature about the use of organs from donation after cardiac death (DCD) renal transplantation (RTx) from a developing country.We report RTx outcome between DCD donors ≥70 years (Group 1; n = 14; mean age, 75.7 ± 5.81) and DCD donors 70 years (Group 2; n = l9; mean age, 51.7 ± 10.1) between January 1999 and January 2012. The mean age of recipients was 39.5 ± 14.7 years, 24 of whom were males. The mean donor age was 61.9 ± 14.6 years, 21 of whom were males. All recipients received single-dose thymoglobulin induction followed by immunosuppression with a steroid, a calcineurin inhibitor, and mycophenolate mofetil or azathioprine. Statistical analysis used chi-square test and unpaired Student t test. Kaplan-Meier curves were used for survival analysis.Over a mean follow-up of 3.21 ± 3.46 years, one-, five-, and ten-year, patient survival rates were 77%, 67.4%, and 67.4%, respectively, and death-censored graft survival rates were 85.7% for one, five, and ten years. Delayed graft function (DGF) was observed in 36.4% (n = 12) with 12.1% (n = 4) biopsy-proven acute rejection (BPAR). Patient survival (P = .27), graft survival (P = .20), DGF (P = .51), and BPAR (P = .74) were similar in 2 groups. A total of 27.2% (n = 9) of patients died, mainly due to infections (n = 5).Given the widespread organ shortage, outcomes of controlled DCD renal transplantation has a potential to expand the donor pool and shorten the waiting list for RTx, encouraging the use of this approach even in low-income countries.

Down syndrome is one of the most common genetic causes of learning disabilities in children. Although the incidence of renal and urological involvement in Down syndrome is not very common, monitoring of patients with Down syndrome for renal diseases should be done regularly as patient’s age into the second and third decades. With increased survival, it appears that a growing number of these patients present with chronic renal failure. Down syndrome patients are apparently not suited for peritoneal dialysis because of lacking cooperation. This procedure can be prone to failure, mainly because of an increased risk of peritonitis. Handling such patients especially those on peritoneal dialysis is challenging. Here we report a case of Down syndrome with end-stage renal disease treated with hemodialysis for 6 months. To the best of our knowledge and current literature review this is the first case report of a patient with Down syndrome undergoing hemodialysis.

BACKGROUND: We undertook this study to define the role of stem cell transplantation (SCT) versus donor-specific transfusion (DST) in tolerance induction and sustenance in living donor renal transplantation (LDRT). METHODS: In this prospective three-armed trial in LDRT with 13 patients each in demographically well-balanced groups, tolerance induction protocol (TIP) was used with SCT in group 1, DST in group 2, and no induction in group 3. Tolerance induction protocol consisted of SCT/DST under conditioning with bortezomib, methylprednisone, rituximab, and rabbit antithymocyte globulin. Transplantation was performed with prednisone in groups 1 and 2 and with triple immunosuppression in group 3, if lymphocyte/flow crossmatch was negative; and if donor-specific antibodies (DSAs) were absent in the first 2 groups. Posttransplant monitoring included serum creatinine (SCr), peripheral T-regulatory cells (pTregs)(127/CD4+/25), and DSA for groups 1 and 2; DSA was eliminated in group 3. Rescue IS was started with rise of SCr/DSA/ rejection. RESULTS: Tolerance induction protocol was safe. Over a mean follow-up of 2 years, no patient/graft was lost in groups 1 and 2. One patient of group 3 lost graft to noncompliance. Protocol biopsies were unremarkable. Rejections were noted in six patients of group 1, five of group 2, and seven of group 3. Donor-specific antibodies were elevated in three patients of both groups. Mean SCr of all groups was similar; however, pTregs were increased posttransplant in groups 1 and 2 versus group 3. Group 1 had sustained rise in pTregs. CONCLUSION: Stem cell transplantation and DST are useful for immunosuppression minimization in LDRT with sustained generation of pTregs with SCT.

Deceased donors (DDs) with the brain death due to head injury are the major source of organs for transplantation. The incidence of post-head injury disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) ranges from 24% to 50%. Many centers do not accept organs from donors with DIC due to increased risk of primary graft non-function and/or high chances of morbidity/mortality. We performed two successful renal transplants from a DD with head injury with DIC and deranged renal function. One of the recipients developed transient thrombocytopenia, but there was no evidence of DIC or delayed graft functions in either of the recipients. Over a follow-up of 1 month, both are doing well with stable graft function and hematological profile. Thus, a carefully selected DD with severe DIC even with deranged renal function is not a contraindication for organ donation if other risk factors for primary non-function are excluded. This approach will also help in overcoming organ shortage.

Although end-stage renal disease (ESRD) related to AA amyloidosis nephropathy secondary to tuberculosis is most common in our country, there are limited data concerning patient and graft outcome after renal transplantation (RTx). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of RTx in ESRD patient with secondary amyloidosis due to tuberculosis from India. A 30-year-old female with past history of pulmonary tuberculosis 3 years back was admitted with complaint of gradually progressive pedal oedema and nausea for 3 months. Renal biopsy was suggestive of secondary renal amyloidosis with vascular involvement and chronic tubulointerstitial involvement. She was transplanted with kidney from her 28-year-old brother with 3/6 human leukocyte antigen match. She had immediate good graft function without any perioperative complications (cardiovascular, infections, rejection and delayed graft function). She was discharged with serum creatinine of 0.8 mg/dL. Her last serum creatinine level was 0.9 mg/dL with cyclosporine level of 100 mg/dL at 9-month followup without any medical or surgical complication. The quality of life also improved after transplantation. With careful selection, ESRD patients with secondary amyloidosis due to tuberculosis are eligible for RTx with favorable outcome and improved quality of life.

Churg-Strauss syndrome (CSS) also called allergic granulomatosis and angiitis is a multisystem disorder. Churg-Strauss syndrome is defined as an eosinophil-rich, granulomatous inflammation involving the respiratory tract, along with necrotizing vasculitis affecting small- to medium-sized vessels, and is associated with asthma and eosinophilia. Renal involvement in CSS varies from 26 to 88 % but is usually of mild to moderate stage, and advanced renal failure is uncommon. We encountered an unusual case of 27-year-old man with asthma and primary focal segmental glomerulosclerosis diagnosed as CSS showing myeloperoxidase anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated acute kidney injury with crescentic glomerulonephritis. Patient responded to steroid and cyclophosphamide. Over a follow-up of 2 months, he has no hematuria/eosinophilia and serum creatinine of 2.3 mg/dL has decreased to 1.7 mg/dL.

Economic constraints in operating an effective maintenance dialysis program leaves renal transplantation as the only viable option for end-stage renal disease patients in India. Kidney paired donation (KPD) is a rapidly growing modality for facilitating living donor (LD) transplantation for patients who are incompatible with their healthy, willing LD. The aim of our study was to report a single-center feasibilities and outcomes of KPD transplantation between 2000 and 2012. We performed KPD transplants in 70 recipients to avoid blood group incompatibility (n = 56) or to avoid a positive crossmatch (n = 14). Over a mean follow-up of 2.72 ± 2.96 years, one-, five- and ten-year patient survival were 94.6, 81, 81 %, and death-censored graft survival was 96.4, 90.2, 90.2 %, respectively. Ten percent of patients were lost, mainly due to infections (n = 4). There was 14.2 % biopsy-proven acute rejection, and 5.7 % interstitial fibrosis with tubular atrophy eventually leading to graft loss. The incidences of acute rejection, patient/graft survival rates were acceptable in our KPD program and, therefore, we believe it should be encouraged. These findings are valuable for encouraging participation of KPD pairs and transplant centers in national KPD program. It should be promoted in centers with low-deceased donor transplantation. Our study findings are relevant in the context of Indian government amending the Transplantation of Human Organs Act to encourage national KPD program. To our knowledge, it is largest single-center report from India.

Plasmodium vivax infection is increasingly a major public health burden and the second most frequent human malaria. Higher levels of clinical severity and chloroquine resistance are major factors responsible for such increases. Malarial glomerular injury is uncommon and mainly observed in Plasmodium malariae-infected patients. Occasionally, transient immune complex-mediated glomerulonephritis is associated with Plasmodium falciparum infection. Coexistent crescentic glomerulonephritis and vivax malaria have not previously been reported. We report a fatal case of P. vivax malaria, who presented with acute renal failure. P. vivax monoinfection status was diagnosed with peripheral blood smear and rapid antigen test. Further evaluation for renal failure related to systemic illness and immunological markers were inconclusive. He was treated with antimalarial drugs, hemodialysis, and supportive therapy. Renal biopsy performed for nonrecovering renal failure reveled crescentic glomerulonephritis. This case highlights the need to thoroughly search for malaria-associated crescentic glomerulonephritis using renal biopsy after nonrecovering renal failure.

Kute VB, Trivedi HL, Vanikar AV, Shah PR, Gumber MR, Patel HV, Munjappa BC, Modi PR, Gera DN. Long-term outcome of deceased donor renal transplantation in pediatric recipients: A single-center experience from a developing country Abstract: RTx is best treatment for children with ESRD. Data scarcity on DDRTx outcome in children prompted us to review our experience. This study was undertaken to evaluate patient/graft survival, function vis-a-vis SCr, rejection episodes, and mortality in DDRTx performed in 37 children between 1998 and 2011. The most common recipient diseases leading to ESRD were congenital anomalies of kidney and urinary tract (48.6%) and chronic glomerulonephritis (18.9%). Mean recipient age was 13.8 ± 3.1 yr; 67.5% (n = 25) were men. Mean donor age was 38.8 ± 18.6 yr; 48.5% (n = 18) were men. Mean dialysis duration pre-transplantation was 15.5 ± 3.5 months. All recipients received r-ATG, and triple immunosuppression. Over a mean follow-up of 3.93 ± 3.5 yr, patient and graft survival rates were 72.9% (n = 27) and 83.7% (n = 31), respectively, with a mean SCr of 1.1 mg/dL; 21.6% (n = 8) of patients had acute rejection episodes; 24.3% (n = 9) of patients had DGF. A total of 27% (n = 10) patients died, mainly owing to infections (n = 6) and cardiovascular disease (n = 3). DDRTx is a viable option for children and achieves acceptable graft function with patient/graft survival over long-term follow-up, encouraging use of this approach.

Plasmodium vivax is causing increasingly more cases of severe malaria worldwide. Among 25 cases in India during 2010-2011, associated conditions were renal failure, thrombocytopenia, jaundice, severe anemia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, shock, cerebral malaria, hypoglycemia, and death. Further studies are needed to determine why P. vivax malaria is becoming more severe.

Severe and complicated malaria is usually caused by Plasmodium falciparum malaria (PF) but it has been increasingly observed that Plasmodium vivax malaria (PV), which was otherwise considered to be benign malaria, with a low case-fatality ratio, can also occasionally result in severe disease as with PF malaria. There is an urgent need to re-examine the clinical spectrum and burden of PV so that adequate control measures can be implemented against this emerging but neglected disease. We report a case of severe PV malaria with multi-organ dysfunction. Patients exhibited acute kidney injury, severe anemia/thrombocytopenia, jaundice, hypoglycemia, hyponatremia, and pulmonary edema. Peripheral blood microscopy by trained and expert pathologist and rapid diagnostic test showed the presence of PV and absence of PF. The patient recovered completely with anti-malarial drugs, supportive measures, and hemodialysis.Recent microrheologic research that analyzed malaria severity in PV clearly demonstrated enhanced aggregation, erythrocyte clumping, and reduced deformability affecting microcirculation. Our case report highlights the fact that PV malaria is benign by name but not always by nature. PV can lead to unusual and potentially life-threatening complications. Further large-scale multi-centric studies are needed to define this less known entity.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) is the commonest cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) worldwide. Renal transplantation (RTx) is the best therapeutic modality for such patients. First-degree relatives of patients with type 2 DM have high risk of diabetes/pre-diabetes. Parents are often too old to be suitable donors, and siblings/children/spouse are either not suitable/acceptable or do not come forward for organ donation. This leaves deceased donation (DD) as only suitable donors. Data scarcity on DDRTx outcome in diabetic nephropathy (DN) prompted us to review our experience. This retrospective single-center 10-year study was undertaken to evaluate patient/graft survival, graft function, rejection episodes, and mortality in these patients.Between January 2001 and March 2011, thirty-five DN-ESRD patients underwent DDRTx in our center following cardiac fitness assessment of recipients. All patients received single-dose rabbit-anti-thymocyte globulin for induction and steroids, calcineurin inhibitor, and mycophenolate mofetil/azathioprine for maintenance immunosuppression. Mean recipient age was 49.66 ± 6.76 years, and 25 were men. Mean donor age was 50 ± 16.45 years, 23 were men.Over a mean follow-up of 2.28 ± 2.59 years, patient and graft survival rates were 68.5% and 88.5%, respectively, with mean SCr of 1.9 ± 0.62 mg/dl. Delayed graft function was observed in 34.3% patients, and 25.7% had biopsy-proven acute rejection; 31.5% patients died, mainly because of infections (22.8%), coronary artery disease (2.86%), and cerebrovascular events (5.7%).DDRTx in patients with DN has acceptable graft function and patient/graft survival over 10-year follow-up in our center and, therefore, we believe it should be encouraged.

Renal transplantation (RTx) is the best therapeutic modality for patient suffering from end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Deceased donor organ transplantation (DDOT) accounts for

Respiratory complications and renal failure are the leading causes for morbidity and mortality due to influenza (H1N1) virus infection. There has been limited information on histopathology of H1N1 influenza-related acute kidney injury (AKI). We describe AKI with H1N1 infection in a 52-year-old female. Renal biopsy showed mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis with acute tubule interstitial nephritis. Her condition improved rapidly with oseltamivir, fluid replacement, steroid and dialysis. Our case suggests that H1N1 infection may have a causative link to the development of mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis with acute tubulointerstitial nephritis.

Providing transplantation opportunities for patients with incompatible live donors through kidney paired donation (KPD) is an important strategy for easing the crisis in organ availability. KPD is can overcome the barriers when the only living potential donors are deemed unsuitable owing to an incompatibility of blood type, of human leukocyte antigen cross-match, or both. In KPD, the incompatibility problems with two donor recipient pairs can be solved by exchanging donors. In the absence of well-organized deceased donor program, or transplantation with desensitization protocol and ABO incompatible transplantation, living donor KPD promises hope to the growing number of patients suffering from end-stage renal disease in India. We report our first successful three-way KPD transplantation from India. In an era of organ shortage, this approach is relevant to encourage wider participation from KPD donors and transplant centers to prevent commercial transplantation.

The outcome of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is difficult to predict. This study assessed the outcome of CKD patients admitted to the ICU and evaluated prediction of 30-day mortality using the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE II), Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II), and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score. One hundred consecutive CKD patients admitted to the ICU at a tertiary care hospital, Ahmedabad between 2011 and 2013 were included prospectively. Data on demographics, indication for admission, cause of CKD, use of vasoactive drugs and mechanical ventilation (MV), mode of renal replacement therapy (RRT), and 30-day mortality were recorded. The APACHE II, SAPS II, and SOFA scores were calculated based on the admission characteristics. The mean APACHE II, SAPS II, and SOFA scores were 28.22 ± 7.53, 43.04 ± 16.40, and 10.39 ± 5.20, respectively, and area under receiver operating characteristics curve in predicting 30-day mortality were 0.961, 0.994, and 0.950, respectively. The scores were significantly higher in 30-day nonsurvivors as compared to survivors (P = 0.001). During the ICU stay, MV and vasoactive drugs were required in 57% and 67% of the patients, respectively, and the requirement was significantly greater in nonsurvivors as compared to survivors (P = 0.001). About 85% of patients were on intermittent hemodialysis and 15% of patients were on continuous venovenous hemodiafiltration. Sepsis was the main reason for hospital admission, and the mean length of stay in the ICU was 7.74 ± 5.34 days. The study indicates that all three scores (APACHE II, SAPS II, and SOFA) perform equally well and have equal diagnostic utility in predicting 30-day mortality.

When a desensitization protocol is unsuccessful, a look-back into kidney paired donation (KPD) pool may facilitate transplantation. A 53-year male developed end stage renal disease (ESRD) due to chronic glomerulonephritis. His immunological profile remained unacceptable for transplantation with wife as potential donor even after desensitization protocol. Lymphocytotoxicity crossmatch, flow crossmatch and donor specific antibodies [DSA] were favorable for transplantation with rescue swap donor. Two-way KPD exchange was performed with steroid and rabbit anti-thymoglobulin induction under triple immunosuppressive regimen. Both recipients were discharged with stable allograft function. This case suggests that in case of an unsuccessful attempt at desensitization, rescue KPD can be used for salvaging failed desensitization treatment and increase the transplantation rate.

We report a case of lead nephropathy due to Sindoor treated successfully with steroid, hemodialysis and chelating agent. Diagnosis of lead nephropathy was confirmed by identification of potential sources of lead exposure (Sindoor, 5-10 gm per year for 11 years) indicated by high blood lead level, 95 µg/dL and presence of extrarenal features of lead poisoning (hypertension, anemia, lead line, hyperuricemia). A search for the underlying systemic causes of renal failure yielded no results. A kidney biopsy showed acute or chronic tubule-interstitial nephritis with mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis with no immune deposit on immunofluorescence consistent with lead nephropathy. He was discharged in good health after psychiatric consultation and continued with oral D-Penicillamine with normal renal function tests and urine output. This case identifies Sindoor as a potential lead exposure among Indians and clinicians should be aware of this risk factor and enquire about it when searching a source of lead exposure in high-risk population.

Acute iron poisoning is a common and potentially serious problem in the pediatric population. Early recognition and treatment is crucial for a better outcome and to prevent morbidity and mortality. An 18-year-old female, who had accidental ingestion of 50 tablets of ferrous sulfate (100 mg of elemental iron per 335 mg tablet), 100 mg/kg of elemental iron, developed acute gastrointestinal and neurologic signs of toxicity and severe anion gap metabolic acidosis. The patient had received gastrointestinal decontamination, deferoxamine (DFO) infusion, and hemodialysis (HD) resulting in a decrease in serum iron concentration from 2150 to 160 mcg/dL at 24-h post-ingestion and improved mental status. Our cases demonstrate that HD may assist in decreasing serum iron concentration and improving clinical status in patients with massive overdose and life-threatening toxicity.

First Report of the Indian Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) Registry showed that patient with CKD in India more frequently presented in Stage V. Many patients have uncontrolled hypertension and uremia due to noncompliance or non affordability of renal replacement therapy which can lead to complications such as posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES). A 17-year-old female had end stage renal disease (ESRD) due to malignant hypertension. She developed headaches, altered consciousness, visual disturbances and seizures. A non contrast brain computed tomography revealed bilateral symmetrical white matter hypodensity in parietal, temporal, and occipital region suggesting PRES. Intravenous lorazepam was given for acute control of seizure and she required phenytoin, valproic acid, levetiracetam to control seizures. She was started on more frequent hemodialysis. She required five types of antihypertensive drugs to control blood pressure. We report successful renal transplantation (RTx) in a CKD patient with PRES. Constraints in operating an effective maintenance dialysis program leave RTx as the only viable option for ESRD patients in our country to prevent complications like PRES associated with uremia and uncontrolled hypertension.

Plasmodium vivax is causing increasingly more cases of severe malaria worldwide. We reported a case of postrenal transplantation acute kidney injury (AKI) associated with P. vivax, a neglected human malaria parasite. The diagnosis of P. vivax monoinfection was confirmed by direct visualization of the parasite in blood smear and rapid diagnostic test. On admission, serum creatinine (SCr.) increased from 1.45 to 3.7 mg/dl. The other etiologies of fever and AKI were ruled out. He responded to prompt therapy with antimalarial drugs. There was no change in tacrolimus trough level before and after antimalarial drugs. Two weeks after discharge, his SCr. was 1.43 mg/dl. Our patient lived in an endemic malarial area and the transplant took place in December 2010. The patient subsequently presented with clinical malaria in June 2012, so we thought that posttransplantation transmission by the mosquito was a possibility and very less likely that other dormant form of the parasite had been the source of the clinical infection. P. vivax can lead to as AKI in renal transplant recipient. P. vivax should be considered in the differential diagnosis of fever in transplant recipients who had received organs or blood products from malaria-endemic area to facilitate a prompt diagnosis and adequate treatment.

A 42-year-old end stage renal disease (ESRD) patient was admitted with fever, anorexia, malaise, non-productive cough, and dyspnea, of one-week duration. Multiple cultures of the blood, sputum, and urine were negative for microorganisms. The possibility of bronchiolitis obliterans with organizing pneumonia (BOOP) was considered when patient with pulmonary infiltrate did not respond to conventional antibiotic therapy and frequent hemodyalisis. High-resolution computed tomography of the chest revealed patchy air-space consolidation, ground-glass opacities, and small nodular opacities, predominantly located at the peripheral part of the lungs. Cultures and stains of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) specimen and bronchoscopic biopsy of lung tissue were negative for organisms [bacteria, mycobacterium tuberculosis, PCP, fungus, and atypical organism] and showed evidence of BOOP. Patient recovered completely with early diagnosis and treatment with steroids and underwent successful renal transplantation with wife as donor without postoperative complication and relapse.

Background Anti-glomerular basement membrane (anti-GBM) nephritis post–renal transplantation (RTx) is known to cause graft loss in Alport's syndrome (AS). We evaluated the results of RTx in AS patients vis a vis patient and graft survivals, incidence of anti-GBM nephritis, and causes of graft failure. Materials and methods Between 1993 and 2009 we performed 31 RTx on AS patients (28 males and three females) of overall mean age of 22 ± 7.9 years from six deceased and 27 living donors. Two patients underwent second RTx. Results Over a follow-up of 1, 3, 5, and 10 years, the mean serum creatinines (mg/dL) were 1.51 ± 0.52, 1.59 ± 0.26, 1.61 ± 0.30, and 1.63 ± 0.32, respectively. Patient survivals at 1, 5, and 10 years were 89.71%, 81.32% and 81.32% with graft survival for all periods of 81.2%. Twenty-one percent experienced biopsy-proven acute rejection episodes. Graft failures were due to anti-GBM nephritis in 12.2% ( n = 4), chronic allograft nephropathy in 3.2% ( n = 1), and acute rejection or cyclosporine toxicity 3.2% ( n = 1 each). The mean duration to graft loss was 4.9 ± 2.4 months. Conclusion Graft and patient survivals were acceptable among transplant recipients with AS despite the risk of anti-GBM nephritis.

We report a case of diabetic end-stage renal disease patient who presented with a right common carotid artery jugular arteriovenous fistula as a complication of the insertion of a polyurethane double-lumen hemodialysis catheter into the right internal jugular vein .On physical examination of the neck, a pulsating mass with a palpable thrill and a bruit was noted in the right subclavicular region. The diagnosis was confirmed by color doppler ultrasonography of the neck and carotid angiography. The review of the literature suggests the occurrence of this complication as rather rare. The fistula was successfully repaired surgically. It is emphasized that while securing the access, a thorough physical examination with a special emphasis on seeking any neck swellings, thrill, and bruit along with routine use of vascular doppler for securing dialysis access is recommended.

We report a case of end stage renal disease patient who displayed a persistent left superior vena cava (PLSVC) after placement of hemodialysis (HD) catheter through left internal jugular vein, as revealed by routine post-procedure X-ray chest. The diagnosis of PLSVC was confirmed by arterial blood gas, two-dimensional echocardiography, computed tomography thorax and angiographic examination. This anomaly is rather rare; few studies on safety of PLSVC for HD have been reported. The catheter was uneventfully used for HD for 2 months with careful continuous monitoring and removed after arteriovenous fistula was successfully cannulated. Physicians who place HD catheters in the left jugular/subclavian vein should be aware of the existence of PLSVC.

Stem cell therapy (SCT) is used for immunosuppression minimization in renal transplantation (RT). We carried out a prospective study to evaluate the benefits of co-infusion of donor adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AD-MSC) + hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) in living donor RT (LDRT) under non-myeloablative conditioning.In a demographically balanced three-armed LDRT trial with 95 patients in each arm, group-1 received portal co-infusion of AD-MSC + HSC, group-2 received HSC and group-3 received no SCT. Lymphoid irradiation and anti-thyroglobulin were used for conditioning.SCT was safe. At 1 and 5 years post-transplant, patient survival was 100% and 94.7% in group-1, 100% and 95.7% in group-2, and 94.7% and 84% in group-3, death-censored graft survival was 100% and 94.6% in group-1, 100% and 91.3% in group-2, and 98.9% and 94.4% in group-3 with mean serum creatinine (mg/dL) of 1.38 and 1.39 in group-1, 1.48 and 1.51 in group-2, and 1.29 and 1.42 and in group-3. Rejection episodes and immunosuppression requirement were lesser in SCT groups versus controls with best results noted in group-1.Coinfusion of donor AD-MSC +HSC in portal circulation pre-transplant under non-myeloablative conditioning is safe and effective for immunosuppression minimization in LDRT.

To evaluate whether the outcomes of renal grafts from living related donors older than 60 years are acceptable, in terms of renal function and patient/graft survival.One hundred and forty-seven patients who received kidneys from donor age ≥60 years constituted the study group (group 1). The control group (group 2) consisted of 1310 patients who received renal transplants from donor age60 years. Outcome measures included graft, patient survival, acute rejection rate and serum creatinine (SCr) in patients/donors. Graft and patient survivals were compared using the Kaplan-Meier method.The mean age of donors was 62.7 ± 3.39 years in group 1 and 43.45 ± 9.65 years in group 2. Patient survival at 1, 3 and 5 years was 95.7%, 89.4% and 82.6% in group 1 and 93.8%, 89.1% and 83.1% in group 2 (p = 0.785), respectively. Death-censored graft survival at 1, 3 and 5 years was 98.5%, 94.8% and 94.8% in group 1 and 96.1%, 92.9% and 89% in group 2 (p = 0.166), respectively. Biopsy-proven acute rejections were 21% and 16.8% (p = 0.206) and chronic rejections 5% and 3.4% in group 1 and 2, respectively (p = 0.542). Recipient SCr (mg/dL) was 1.8 ± 0.31 in group 1 and 1.58 ± 0.37 in group 2. The donor SCr levels at the last follow-up were 1 mg/dL and 0.9 mg/dL in group 1 and 2, respectively.Donor age did not affect patient and graft survival in the 5-year follow-up in our study. Age alone seems not to be an exclusion criterion to living kidney donation.

Chronic heart failure (CHF) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) are serious medical conditions with significant morbidity and mortality and often coexist. Because of perioperative risks in these patients, they may not be considered a candidate for renal transplantation (RTx).We compare retrospectively RTx outcomes [graft/patient survival, rejection rates and adverse cardiac events] in study group [low left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≤ 45% by echocardiogram, n = 63] and control group [normal LVEF ≥ 50%, n = 537] from a developing country.The mean EF was 35 ± 5.6 and 57 ± 3% for the study and control groups, respectively (p0.001). Majority of these patients (98%) showed normalization of LVEF post-transplant. The median EF was 60% at 1-3 months post-transplant. No difference was noted in graft survival, patient survival, rejection rates, serum creatinine and adverse cardiac events of study group at 1.3-year mean follow-up compared to control group. Outcome was not adversely affected by preexisting LV dysfunction. The study and control groups had nearly similar percent of patients with established CAD but significantly more hospitalization for CHF pre RTx in the study group compared with the control group.RTx may play a role in reversing LV systolic dysfunction. Once thought by many to be a contraindication for renal transplantation, this appears not to be the case. The outcomes between the 2 groups are comparable and transplant is an option for even low EF patients.

Summary Because access to transplantation with HLA-desensitization protocols and ABO incompatible transplantation is very limited due to high costs and increased risk of infections from more intense immunosuppression, kidney paired donation (KPD) promises hope to a growing number of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patient in India. We present a government and institutional ethical review board approved study of 56 ESRD patients [25 two-way and 2 three-way pairs] who consented to participate in KPD transplantation at our center in 2013, performed to avoid blood group incompatibility (n = 52) or positive cross-match (n = 4). All patients had anatomic, functional, and immunologically comparable donors. The waiting time in KPD was short as compared to deceased donor transplantation. Laparoscopic donor nephrectomy was performed in 54 donors. Donor relationships were spousal (n = 40), parental (n = 13), others (n = 3), with median HLA match of 1. Graft survival was 97.5%. Three patients died with functioning graft. 16% had biopsy-proven acute rejection. Mean serum creatinine was 1.2 mg/dl at 0.73 ± 0.32 months follow-up. KPD is a viable, legal, and rapidly growing modality for facilitating LDRT for patients who are incompatible with their healthy, willing living donor. To our knowledge, this is the largest single-center report from India.

Despite heightened international interest in performing living donor kidney paired donation (KPD) transplantation after the publication of a research protocol by Ross and colleagues in 1997, only a few hundred have been performed worldwide. The major obstacle is that many individuals in end-stage renal disease are of blood type O and can only receive an organ from a donor of blood type O, whereas blood type O donors are "universal donors" and will be able to donate directly with an intended recipient of any blood type unless there is a positive crossmatch. To overcome this, patients with compatible but non-HLA identical donors over 45 years of age should be approached for inclusion in KPD program especially O blood group donors. Inclusion of all these additional pairs into the algorithm greatly increases chances of possible matches for O blood group recipients. We report successful three-way KPD transplantation resulting in transplantation of O blood group patient using compatible O blood group donor from India. None of the patients had delayed graft function or rejection and all had stable graft function on discharge without any medical and surgical complications. We need to allocate O blood group kidneys from compatible donors to overcome the barrier of HLA, non-HLA antibodies and other donor related factors to improve transplant quality and long term outcomes. This will increase transplantation of O blood group patients.

Background Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS)/thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) (tissue-limited HUS) is a well-recognized serious complication of renal transplantation, affecting 3% to 14% patients who are administered calcineurin inhibitor–based immunosuppression. We performed a retrospective study to examine the incidence, etiology, course, and outcome of HUS/TMA in our experience. Patients and Methods This retrospective study of 1540 renal allograft biopsies performed between January 2000 and October 2007 was performed to assess the incidence of HUS/TMA. Institute Transplant Registry records were reviewed for clinical history, laboratory findings, medications, and outcome. The offending drug was substituted in all subjects and plasmapheresis was added as an adjuvant until recovery of allograft function. Results TMA was observed in 17 (1.1%) biopsies. Two of 17 patients experienced recurrent HUS; 15 were drug-induced (12 with cyclosporine, three with Sirolimus); 10 were TMA; and five HUS. Nine patients developed HUS/TMA within 3 months of transplantation with eight developing it within 1 year posttransplantation. Graft function recovered in 12, while five did not recover. The HUS group showed 60% recovery compared with 80% among the TMA group. Two patients were lost; both displayed HCV seropositivity and one also showed anti-cardiolipin antibody. Conclusion Early allograft biopsy with prompt diagnosis and management by drug substitution ± plasmapheresis in posttransplant HUS/TMA plays an important role in allograft outcome. TMA showed better recovery than HUS.

Kidney paired donation (KPD) is feasible for any center that performs living related donor renal transplantation (LRDRTx). Lack of awareness, counseling and participation are important hurdles in KPD patients with incompatible donors.This is an institutional review board approved study of 10 ESRD patients who consented to participate in the KPD transplantation at our center. All the surgeries were carried out on the same day at the same center on the occasion of World Kidney Day (WKD) (14 March 2013). All recipients had anatomic, functional and immunological similar donors.KPD were performed to avoid blood group incompatibility (n = 8) or to avoid a positive crossmatch (n = 2). None of the patients experienced delayed graft function and surgical complications. At 3 month follow-up, median serum creatinine was 1 (range 0.6 to 1.25) mg/dL and two patients developed allograft biopsy-proven acute rejection and responded to antirejection therapy. Due to impact of our awareness activity, 20 more KPD patients are medically fit for transplantation and waiting for permission from the authorization committee before transplantation.This is a report of 10 simultaneous KPD transplantations in a single day in a single centre on WKD raising awareness of KPD. KPD is viable, legal and rapidly growing modality for facilitating LRDRTx for patients who are incompatible with their healthy, willing LRD.

Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) although rare is the commonest cause of acute renal failure (ARF) in children and has poor prognosis. We present single centre experience of aHUS. Thirty six children (29 males, 7 females) with mean age, 7.9 years presented with ARF, 2 children also had tonic–clonic type convulsions. Their hematology examination revealed hemolytic anemia with s. creatinine (SCr), 5.54 mg/dl. Acute HUS was observed in 75 %, acute on chronic HUS in 19.4 % and patchy cortical necrosis (PCN) in 5.6 % biopsies. Mean 5.4 plasma exchanges (PE) were carried out. Supportive management of anti-hypertensives and prednisone was also given. Recovery end points were establishment of urine output, improvement of SCr and hematological profile. Hematology and renal function profile improved variably in all children, 5.6 % died, relapse was observed in 80.5 % over mean 70 days; 13.9 % children are doing well over mean follow-up of 268.8 days. Thus poor prognosis was observed in 86.1 % children. Children with acute on chronic HUS and PCN did not recover. Six children who recovered had acute HUS. aHUS in Indian children occurs at an older age of around 8 years and chronic/irreversible changes on histopathology examination are harbingers of poor prognosis. PE is life-saving however further research for developing strategies to improve long-term survival is needed.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is an independent risk factor for mortality in sepsis syndrome. Few Indian studies have focused on describing the epidemiology of sepsis with AKI. Adult patients with sepsis-induced AKI were evaluated for the clinical characteristics and outcome and to correlate various parameters associated with sepsis to the outcome of patients. This prospective study included 136 patients with sepsis-induced AKI between 2007 and 2009. All patients required renal replacement therapy. Males comprised 44% of the patients while 56% were females; their mean age was 38.6 years. When we compared the survivor and non-survivor groups, it was found that mortality was associated with delayed presentation (6.8 vs 9.4 days), presence of hypotension (132/80 vs 112/70 mmHg), oliguria (300 vs 130 mL), anemia (8 vs 9.3 gm/dL), prolonged prothrombin time (15 vs 29 s) and activated partial thrombin time (38 vs 46 s), creatinine (7.8 vs 6.4 mg/dL), blood urea (161 vs 135 mg/dL), higher D-dimer (1603 vs 2185), short hospital stay (27.9 vs 8.3 days), number of hemodialysis sessions (11.9 vs 6 times), need for vasopressors (14% vs 52%) and ventilator (7.2% vs 75%) and higher Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score (6.7 vs 11.4) (P 11 and multi-organ dysfunction are the risk factors for mortality.

Renal transplantation (RTx) is considered as the best therapeutic modality for patient suffering from end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Dearth of donor kidneys is a major problem everywhere, and deceased donor renal transplantation (DDRTx) is seen as at least a partial solution. Even so, DDRTx accounts for only less than 4% of RTx in India. We report our 6-year single-center experience on DDRTx vis-a-vis patient/graft survival, graft function in terms of serum creatinine (SCr), rejection episodes, and delayed graft function (DGF). Between January 2005 and March 2011, 236 DDRTx were performed. Majority of the donors were those with brain death due to road traffic/cerebrovascular accidents. The commonest recipient diseases leading to ESRD were chronic glomerulonephritis (42.8%), diabetes (12.7%), and hypertension (10.6%). Mean recipient age was 36.2 ± 14.2 years; 162 were males and 74 were females. Mean donor age was 45.3 ± 17.13 years; 144 were males and 92 were females. Mean dialysis duration pre-transplantation was 18.5 ± 2.5 months. All recipients received single-dose rabbit-anti-thymocyte globulin induction and steroids, calcinueurin inhibitor, and mycophenolate mofetil/azathioprine for maintenance immunosuppression. Delayed graft function was observed in 29.6% patients and 22% had biopsy-proven acute rejection. Over the mean follow-up of 2.18 ± 1.75 years, patient and graft survival rates were 74.57% and 86.8%, respectively, with mean SCr of 1.42 ± 0.66 mg%. DDRTx achieves acceptable graft function with patient/graft survival, encouraging the use of this approach in view of organ shortage.

Kidney Paired Donation (KPD) is a rapidly growing modality for facilitating living related donor kidney transplantation (LRDKTx) for patients who are incompatible with their healthy, willing, and living donors. Data scarcity on the outcome of KPD versus LRDKTx prompted us to review our experience.This was a single-center study of 224 patients on regular follow-up, who underwent LRDRTx from January 2010 to June 2012 at our institute. The aim of this study was to compare short-term graft survival, patient survival and rejection rates of KPD (group 1, n = 34) with those of LRDKTx (group 2, n = 190). All the recipients received triple immunosuppression and thymoglobulin induction in KPD group. Kaplan-Meier curves were used for survival analysis. In group 1, mean recipient age was 35.5 ± 13.2 years, 29 were men and mean donor age was 44.4 ± 8.17 years, 10 were men. In group 2, mean recipient age was 29.1 ± 10 years, 155 were men and mean donor age was 47.5 ± 9.69 years, 74 were men. Mean human leukocyte antigen (HLA) matching in group 1 and 2 was 1 versus 3.2 (p0.05).One- and two-year patient survival showed no significant difference between the two groups (97.1%, 97.1% vs. 96.2%, 94.8%, respectively, p = 0.81). Death-censored graft survival also showed no significant difference between the two groups (97.1%, 97.1%, vs. 97.6%, 97.6%, p = 0.73). Acute rejection incidence was also similar (8.7% vs. 9.9%, p0.62).Our study showed similar graft survival, patient survival and rejection rates of KPD versus LRDKTx over 2 years post-transplantation, encouraging the use of this approach for national KPD program.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of the most dreaded complications of severe malaria. Herein, we report a case of spontaneous resolution of AKI due to collapsing glomerulopathy (CG) and hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) associated with P. falciparum malaria. Our case report highlights the fact that early intervention on the triggering cause of CG without a long course of steroids may obtain a remission of this severe subset of CG and may obtain a remission of HUS without therapeutic plasmapheresis The etiologic treatment of CG and HUS may avoid progression to end-stage renal disease.

BACKGROUND Use of kidneys from donors aged 70 years and older is controversial. Organ shortage has led many transplant centers to accept kidneys from old, suboptimal deceased donors and make increasing use of old-for-old allocation systems. We describe our institutional experience with outcomes from transplanting deceased-donor kidneys from older donors (=70 years). MATERIAL AND METHODS 20 deceased donor renal transplants (DDRTx) were performed at our center using grafts from deceased donors 70 years and older between June 2004 and September 2011. Kidneys were allocated to dual or single grafting according to pre-transplant biopsy. Mean age of recipients was 47.60 ± 11.38 years, 13 of whom were males. Mean donor age was 76.49 ± 4.9 years; 10 of whom were males. The most common cause of donor death was cerebrovascular/road traffic accidents. Mean dialysis duration pre-transplantation was 19.5 ± 6.5 months. Mean HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigens) match was 1 ± 0.8. Most common recipient diseases leading to ESRD were chronic glomerulonephritis (25%), diabetes (20%), and hypertension (20%). Post-transplant immunosuppression consisted of a calcineurin inhibitor-based regimen. RESULTS Over a mean follow-up of 2.8 ± 1.7 years, patient and graft survival rates were 75% (n = 15) and 80% ( n = 16), respectively, with a mean serum creatinine of 1.78 ± 0.56 mg/dl; 20% of the patients had biopsy-proven acute rejection episodes. A total of 25% (n = 5) patients died, mainly due to infections. CONCLUSIONS DDRTx from older donors achieves acceptable graft function with patient/graft survival, provided that organs are allocated to dual or single grafting according to pre-transplant biopsy. These findings encourage the use of this approach even in low-income countries.