Giornale di Clinica Nefrologica e Dialisi

Nutritional therapy in chronic kidney disease

Antonio Santoro — 2024-03-04

Dietary-Nutritional Therapy (DNT) is an essential component of the conservative management of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) as it helps to maintain the optimal nutritional status and to prevent and/or correct symptoms and complications of CKD. Moreover, it allows adherent patients to delay the onset of dialysis, leading to an improved quality of life and cost savings for both patients and the community. Through a survey, we aimed to evaluate how personalized diets were assessed, administered, and experienced by CKD patients. A questionnaire was administered to 180 patients from 4 Nephrology Centers in Lombardy (Italy) regarding their CKD and nutritional therapy. It showed that 73% of patients received dietary prescriptions. In 40% of cases, dietary prescriptions were administered in dedicated clinics and were valued as much as pharmacological ones. Most diets prescribed were low-protein diets (0.8 g protein per kg of body weight), although some included very low protein diets supplemented with keto analogues. Unfortunately, after the initial prescription, the monitoring of the adherence to nutritional therapy is not particularly frequent. In conclusion, our survey suggests that while patients in different Nephrology Centers receive proper dietary prescriptions and follow-ups, there is space for improvement with positive implications for CKD progression, delaying dialysis therapy.

Infective complications in the renal transplant recipients

Giuseppina Rosso — 2024-02-26

Infections remain a common complication of solid-organ transplantation and are a major factor of morbidity and mortality in renal transplant recipients.

The incidence of infection in renal transplant patients is directly related to the net immunosuppressive effect achieved and the duration of the administration of immunosuppressive therapy.

The major types of infections can be categorized according to the time post-transplant during which they occur: in the first month after transplantation post-surgical bacterial infections and in the period from one to four months post-transplant opportunistic infections, overall cytomegalovirus; late infections, beyond 6-12 months, are community-acquired infections.

Opportunistic infections (like Pneumocystis carini, Listeria monocytogenes, and Aspergillus fumigatus) most frequently occur in the first 12 months post-transplant and can be modulated by prior exposures and the use of prophylaxis.

Advanced CKD and gender: a multi-perspective and multi-dimensional vision

Anna Laura Fantuzzi — 2024-03-08

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is present in approximately 7% of the population in the world: several studies have highlighted socio-cultural discrimination, to the detriment of women, in referral to specialist nephrological care and access to dialysis and transplantation. Globally, gender discrimination limits the possibility of access to education and medical care and the involvement in clinical trials. Women on dialysis have different comorbidities than men; the choice to follow a predialysis process and the subsequent orientation towards dialysis treatment are certainly influenced by gender as is the choice of dialysis access. As regards kidney transplantation, women are more likely to offer themselves as donors rather than to be beneficiaries. Conventional knowledge supports the belief that there are gender differences in the acquisition, preparation and consumption of food; for this reason it is essential to consider the variables that come into play when defining and agreeing treatment paths, in particular in taking care of people with chronic diseases such as CKD.