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Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has evolved in recent years in clinical practice, helping in early bedside diagnosis of important etiologies. Many medical schools and training programs are integrating POCUS into their curriculum. Especially with the technological advances of newer handheld ultrasound devices, POCUS has now become a component adjunct to clinical examination, in the clinic and bedside in critical care units. The diagnostic utility of POCUS lies both in early identification of critical kidney disease, and also extra-renal pathologies from a focused cardiac ultrasound, lung ultrasound, and integrated fluid assessment. There is a need to incorporate POCUS in training in pediatric nephrology and establish competency standard criteria. This review shall cover how POCUS helps in enhancing patient care in pediatric kidney disorders and critical children, and the recent advances., Author(s): Sidharth Kumar Sethi [sup.1] , Rupesh Raina [sup.2] , Abhilash Koratala [sup.3] , Afagh Hassanzadeh Rad [sup.4] , Ananya Vadhera [sup.5] , Hamidreza Badeli [sup.4] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.429252.a, [...]

Kidney replacement therapy (KRT) is used to provide supportive therapy for critically ill patients with severe acute kidney injury and various other non-renal indications. Modalities of KRT include continuous KRT (CKRT), intermittent hemodialysis (HD), and sustained low efficiency daily dialysis (SLED). However, circuit clotting is a major complication that has been investigated extensively. Extracorporeal circuit clotting can cause reduction in solute clearances and can cause blood loss, leading to an upsurge in treatment costs and a rise in workload intensity. In this educational review, we discuss the pathophysiology of the clotting cascade within an extracorporeal circuit and the use of various types of anticoagulant methods in various pediatric KRT modalities., Author(s): Rupesh Raina [sup.1] [sup.2] , Ronith Chakraborty [sup.1] [sup.2] , Andrew Davenport [sup.3] , Patrick Brophy [sup.4] , Sidharth Sethi [sup.5] , Mignon McCulloch [sup.6] , Timothy Bunchman [sup.7] [...]

Background and objectives Observing biomarkers that affect alternative pathway dysregulation components may be effective in obtaining a new and more rapid diagnostic portrayal of atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome. We have conducted a systematic review on the aHUS biomarkers: C3, C5a, C5b-9, factor B, complement factor B, H, and I, CH50, AH50, d-dimer, as well as anti-CFH antibodies. Methods An exhaustive literature search was conducted for aHUS patient population plasma/serum, collected/reported at the onset of diagnosis. A total of 60 studies were included with the data on 837 aHUS subjects, with at least one biomarker reported. Results The biomarkers C3 [mean (SD): 72.1 (35.0), median: 70.5 vs. reference range: 75-175 mg/dl, n = 752]; CH50 [28.3 (32.1), 24.3 vs. 30-75 U/ml, n = 63]; AH50 [27.6% (30.2%), 10% vs. [greater than or equal to] 46%, n = 23]; and CFB [13.1 (6.6), 12.4, vs. 15.2-42.3 mg/dl, n = 19] were lower among aHUS subjects as compared with the reference range. The biomarkers including C4 [mean (SD): 20.4 (9.5), median: 20.5 vs. reference range: 14-40 mg/dl, n = 343]; C4d [7.2 (6.5), 4.8 vs. [less than or equal to] 9.8 [mu]g/ml, n = 108]; CFH [40.2 (132.3), 24.5 vs. 23.6-43.1 mg/dl, n = 123 subjects]; and CFI [8.05 (5.01), 6.55 mg/dl vs. 4.4-18.1 mg/dl, n = 38] were all observed to be within the reference range among aHUS subjects. The biomarkers C5a [mean (SD): 54.9 (32.9), median: 48.8 vs. reference range: 10.6-26.3 mg/dl, n = 117]; C5b-9 [466.0 (401.4), 317 (186-569.7) vs. [less than or equal to] 250 ng/ml, n = 174]; Bb [2.6 (2.1), 1.9 vs. [less than or equal to] 1.6 [mu]g/ml, n = 77] and d-dimer [246 (65.05), 246 vs. < 2.2 ng/ml, 2, n = 2 subjects] were higher among patients with aHUS compared with the reference range. Conclusion If a comprehensive complement profile were built using our data, aHUS would be identified by low levels of C3, CH50, AH50, and CFB along with increased levels of C5a, C5b-9, Bb, anti-CFH autoantibodies, and d-dimer. Graphical abstract A higher resolution version of the Graphical abstract is available as Supplementary information., Author(s): Rupesh Raina [sup.1] [sup.2] , Sidharth K. Sethi [sup.3] , Marie-Agnès Dragon-Durey [sup.4] , Amrit Khooblall [sup.1] [sup.2] , Divya Sharma [sup.5] , Priyanka Khandelwal [sup.6] , Ron Shapiro [...]

Background AKI is an important complication post cardiac surgery in children. An early diagnosis can help in mitigating complications and allow for prognostication. Urinary albumin:creatinine ratio (ACR) as a biomarker can provide a cheaper and more accessible AKI risk assessment and prediction. There is a paucity of paediatric literature regarding its utility. Methods This was a prospective observational study, enrolling all children aged 1 month to 18 years, who underwent cardiac surgery, with use of cardiopulmonary bypass. Cohort was divided into groups 75.8 mg/g) predicted post-operative AKI after adjusting for clinical variables (adjusted RR, 11.71; 1.85-16.59). In the group aged 141.3 mg/g) predicted post-operative AKI in unadjusted analysis but not after adjusting for clinical variables (RR, 2.78; 0.70-6.65). For AKI risk prediction, AUC (95% CI) was highest after combining clinical model and pre-operative ACR for groups aged < 2 years [0.805 (0.713-0.896)] and [greater than or equal to] 2 years [0.872 (0.772-0.973)]. Conclusions This study provides evidence for use of albuminuria as a feasible biomarker in AKI prediction in children post cardiac surgery, especially when added to a clinical model. Graphical abstract A higher resolution version of the Graphical abstract is available as Supplementary information., Author(s): Arushi Nautiyal [sup.1] , Sidharth Kumar Sethi [sup.2] , Rajesh Sharma [sup.3] , Rupesh Raina [sup.4] , Abhishek Tibrewal [sup.4] , Romel Akole [sup.3] , Aditi Gupta [sup.5] , [...]

Background and objectives Dialysis disequilibrium syndrome (DDS) is a rare neurological complication, most commonly affecting patients undergoing new initiation of hemodialysis (HD), but can also be seen in patients receiving chronic dialysis who miss regular treatments, patients having acute kidney injury (AKI), and in those treated with continuous kidney replacement therapy (CKRT) or peritoneal dialysis (PD). Although the pathogenesis is not well understood, DDS is likely a result of multiple physiological abnormalities. In this systematic review, we provide a synopsis of the data available on DDS that allow for a clear picture of its pathogenesis, preventive measures, and focus on effective management strategies. Methods We conducted a literature search on PubMed/Medline and Embase from January 1960 to January 2021. Studies were included if the patient developed DDS irrespective of age and gender. A summary table was used to summarize the data from individual studies and included study type, population group, age group, sample size, patient characteristics, blood and dialysate flow rate, and overall outcome. A descriptive analysis calculating the frequency of population size, symptoms, and various treatments was performed using R software version 3.1.0. Results A total of 49 studies (321 samples) were identified and analyzed. Out of the included 49 studies, a total of 48 studies reported the presence of DSS among patients (1 study reported based on number of dialysis and therefore was not considered for analysis). Among these 48 studies, 74.3% (226/304) patients were reported to have DSS. The most common symptoms were nausea (25.2%), headache (24.8%), vomiting (23.9%), muscle cramps (18.1%), affected level of consciousness (8.8%), confusion (4.4%), and seizure (4.9%) among the 226 DDS patients. Furthermore, 12 studies decided to switch from HD to alternative dialysis modalities including continuous venovenous hemofiltration/hemodiafiltration (CVVH/CVVHDF) or PD which reported no DDS symptoms. Conclusion Early recognition and timely prevention are crucial for DDS patients. We have provided comprehensive clinical practice points for pediatric, adolescent, and young adult populations. However, it is essential to recognize that DDS was reported more frequently in the early dialysis era, as there was a lack of advanced dialysis technology and limited resources., Author(s): Rupesh Raina [sup.1] [sup.2] [sup.3] , Andrew Davenport [sup.4] , Bradley Warady [sup.5] , Prabhav Vasistha [sup.1] , Sidharth Kumar Sethi [sup.6] , Ronith Chakraborty [sup.1] [sup.2] , Prajit [...]

Background and objectives COVID-19 is responsible for the 2019 novel coronavirus disease pandemic. Despite the vast research about the adult population, there has been little data collected on acute kidney injury (AKI) epidemiology, associated risk factors, treatments, and mortality in pediatric COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU. AKI is a severe complication of COVID-19 among children and adolescents. Methods A comprehensive literature search was conducted in PubMed/MEDLINE and Cochrane Center Trials to find all published literature related to AKI in COVID-19 patients, including incidence and outcomes. Results Twenty-four studies reporting the outcomes of interest were included. Across all studies, the overall sample size of COVID positive children was 1,247 and the median age of this population was 9.1 years old. Among COVID positive pediatric patients, there was an AKI incidence of 30.51%, with only 0.56% of these patients receiving KRT. The mortality was 2.55% among all COVID positive pediatric patients. The incidence of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) among COVID positive patients was 74.29%. Conclusion AKI has shown to be a negative prognostic factor in adult patients with COVID-19 and now also in the pediatric cohort with high incidence and mortality rates. Additionally, our findings show a strong comparison in epidemiology between adult and pediatric COVID-19 patients; however, they need to be confirmed with additional data and studies. Graphical abstract, Author(s): Rupesh Raina [sup.1] [sup.2] [sup.3] , Ronith Chakraborty [sup.1] [sup.2] , Isabelle Mawby [sup.1] , Nirav Agarwal [sup.1] , Sidharth Sethi [sup.4] , Michael Forbes [sup.5] Author Affiliations: (1) [...]

Author(s): Sidharth Kumar Sethi [sup.1] , Abhyuday Rana [sup.2] , Shyam Bihari Bansal [sup.2] , Alka Rana [sup.3] , Dinesh Kumar Yadav [sup.2] , Kritika Soni [sup.2] , Marie-Agnès Dragon-Durey [...]