Nephro-Urology Monthly
Volume:5 Issue: 5, Nov 2013

In this paper a general discussion of the available data on the role of prostaglandin (PG) and phosphodiesterase is discussed. Functional studies would be a next step to understand the functional meaning of the data described in this paper. The data presented are a basis for further research on selective modulation of the EP1 and EP2 receptor which could be a therapeutic target in functional bladder disorders such as OAB. PDE inhibitors are closer to clinical use, as these drugs have been studied and registered for other indications such as erectile dysfunction in men. Therefore, in vivo studies in human subjects can be conducted on short term. However, from a scientific point of view, it is very important to unravel the exact site of action and role of PDE inhibition with in vitro and in vivo studies as is the case with PG. In this way, a combination of drugs targeting different mechanisms involved in bladder physiology such as PG, cGMP, cAMP, and muscarinic receptors, could reduce side effects and improve efficacy..

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is common in hospitalised patients and is associated with high mortality rates. However, the epidemiology of AKI in urology patients may differ due to a higher proportion of post-renal causes and surgical procedures that result in the intentional removal of renal parenchyma.. We performed a study to examine the incidence, aetiology and outcomes of AKI in a urological population..Patients and We performed a single-centre observational study including all hospitalised patients who sustained AKI within the Urology Department over an 18 month period. Patients with AKI were prospectively identified by a hospital-wide, electronic AKI reporting system that also allows demographic, hospital admission and co-morbidity data collection. Data regarding aetiology of AKI and details of surgical procedures were added retrospectively by manual case-note search.. 587 episodes of AKI occurred in 410 urology patients, giving an overall incidence of 6.7%. 137 (33.4%) were elective cases of whom 58 had undergone nephrectomy (radical and partial). Urinary obstruction and sepsis were the predominant causes of AKI in the 273 patients (66.6%) admitted as an emergency. Overall 30-day mortality was 7.8%; increasing severity of AKI was associated with mortality (4.8% in stage 1, 9.1% in stage 2, 14.9% in stage 3, P = 0.007). At time of discharge, only 57.7% of patients had recovered pre-morbid renal function. The observational nature of this study is a limitation, preventing determination of causality of associations.. AKI is common in urology patients. The underlying aetiologies of AKI in this group may explain a lower overall mortality, although increasing AKI severity remains a marker of patients at higher risk of poor outcomes. The low rate of renal recovery suggests that urology patients who sustain AKI are exposed to a significant risk of CKD and its attendant consequences for long term health..

Secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) is a prevalent disorder in patients with chronic kidney disease. It is proffered that there is a contradictory relation between serum level of vitamin C and parathyroid hormone (PTH) in hemodialysis patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism.. The goal of this study was to assess the effects of the supplemental vitamin C on parathyroid hormone among hemodialysis patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism..Patients and This randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind and parallel-group trial was conducted on 82 hemodialysis patients with serum levels of PTH more than 200 pg/mL. In intervention group, 250 mg vitamin C was injected three times a week for 8 weeks in a row immediately at the end of each dialysis session via the intravenous route. In the control group, same term of placebo saline was injected.. The mean of serum PTH was 699.81 (± 318.8) and 596.03 (± 410.7) pg/mL in intervention and control groups respectively at baseline (reference range, 6 to 66 pg/mL), and at the end of study it changed to 441.4 and 424.6 in these groups. The values of serum Calcium and Phosphate did not significantly change during the study (8.4 ± 0.6 mg/dL versus 8.1 ± 0.8 mg/dL, P = 0.39; 5.89 ± 1.7 mg/dL versus 5.9 ± 1.9 mg/dL, P = 0.08, respectively).. This study finding does not warranted therapeutic effect of vitamin C on secondary hyperparathyroidism..

Elevated serum gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) is predictive of various cardiovascular (CV) risk factors including chronic kidney disease (CKD). Elevated serum GGT has been recognized in smokers who are likely to develop CKD, but no study has focused on serum GGT and CKD in smokers.. The aim of this study was to clarify the associations between cigarette consumption, elevation of serum GGT and the development of proteinuria and CKD..Patients and A retrospective 6-year observational study was conducted on 2,603 male workers aged between 40 and 64 years. Incidences of proteinuria detected by dipstick and CKD defined by proteinuria and/or reduced estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) measured in health check-ups were determined 6 years later for those who had been free of them at baseline.. Higher means of serum GGT in smokers than in nonsmokers at baseline, and a higher incidence of elevated serum GGT in smokers than in nonsmokers during the 6-year period were recognized only for alcohol consumers. Incidences of proteinuria and moderate or severe CKD which has a high risk of future renal failure or CV disease were higher in the subjects with greater cigarette consumption or a higher serum GGT level. Multiple logistic regression analyses adjusting for major CV risk factors showed a significant interactive effect between smoking and elevated serum GGT on the development of proteinuria and an additive effect of smoking and serum GGT on the development of high-risk CKD.. Elevation of serum GGT in smokers, to a large extent, depends on the associated alcohol consumption. Elevated GGT in smokers plays at least a partial role in the development of CKD, mainly proteinuria, and the underlying mechanisms remain to be elucidated..

Management of urethral stricture has evolved over the years with better understanding of the pathology, advancement in imaging, and introduction of several techniques of urethral reconstruction. In sub-Saharan Africa, advancement in management of urethral stricture may not be comparable with what obtained in most developed nations because of problems like late presentation and persistence of rare complications still reported in recent literature from the region.. We set to evaluate the challenges faced by urologists involved in the management of urethral strictures in Osogbo, a poor resource community in south western Nigeria..Patients and A retrospective study was performed in the urology unit of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, Nigeria between July 2007 and July 2012. Information was retrieved from patients’ clinical notes and analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 16.0.. Eighty-four patients were treated during the period of study, their ages ranged between 19 and 89 years with the mean age of 52.3 years. The mean duration of symptoms before presentation was 3 years and 1 month. Inflammation resulting from sexually transmitted infection was the commonest etiology and more than 50% of the patients presented with complications. Sixteen patients (19.1%) received no treatment due to lack of fund. More than 90% were dependent, unemployed or underemployed. Single stage reconstruction by urethral substitution was the commonest form of repair with the restenosis rate of 4.4%.. Prevalent socio-cultural and economic situation in south western Nigeria have added some peculiar challenges to the management of urethral stricture in the region..

It has been proposed that reactive oxygen species (ROS) is involved in the pathogenesis of various diseases. Paraoxonase, a high-density lipoprotein associated enzyme, prevents low-density lipoproteins from oxidation.. The aim of the present study was to investigate the serum activities of paraoxonase-1 (PON-1), and aryleterase (ARE) as well as total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in children with nephrotic syndrome in acute and remission phase..Patients and The study consisted of 20 patients in acute and remission phases and 23 healthy controls. PON-1 and ARE activities were determined spectrophotometrically using paraoxone and phenyacetate as substrate, respectively. TAC was measured using ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP).. The levels of PON, ARE, and TAC were significantly lower in acute phase of nephrotic syndrome compared with the remission phase. The levels of PON, ARE and TAC increased in remission phase.. Our results revealed that the determination of paraoxonase activity might be a biomarker for responses to nephrotic syndrome treatment, which needs to be fully clarified..

Toxoplasma gondii is an opportunistic parasitic organism causing infection in many mammals, including immunosuppressed patients. Toxoplasmosis as an opportunistic infection is highly prevalent among patients receiving a kidney transplant.. The purpose of this study was to identify and determine the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in clinical samples collected from patients receiving renal transplants..Patients and A total of 50 blood samples and 40 lung lavage samples from transplanted patients admitted to the infectious wards and the patients undergoing bronchoscopy were collected. The B1 Gene of Toxoplasma gondii was amplified using PCR of the blood and bronoalveolar lavage BAL samples, and IgG and IgM antibodies against Toxoplasma were detected in serum samples using ELISA.. Our results indicated that anti-toxoplasma specific IgG and IgM antibodies were prevalent among transplant recipients with values of 54% and 4% respectively. PCR was performed to detect Toxoplasma gondii in 3 blood and lavage samples (3.3%) with 100% sensitivity and 97.9% specificity.. Toxoplasma gondii pulmonary infection is measured along with brain toxoplasmosis in patients receiving a kidney transplant. After serological methods, PCR is the second useful method for Toxoplasma gondii screening. Proper prophylaxis before and after receiving a kidney transplant together with Toxoplasma gondii screening of donor and transplant is recommended..

The human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system is widely used as a strategy in the search for the etiology of renal function impairment.. This study was carried out to detect the most common HLA alleles’ distribution in kidney transplant in both donors and recipients, and clarify the association between HLA alleles and renal dysfunction immediately after transplantation..Patients and HLA-class I and II alleles typing by PCR-SSOP was performed on a total of 874 recipients aged 40.7 ± 13.8 (male/female: 562/279) and 874 donor aged 27.5 ± 5.3 (male/female: 683/110), between 2006 and 2009 in Baqiyatallah, hospital, Tehran, Iran. In this retrospective, cross sectional study, data were obtained from personal files. Donors aged 40.9 ± 13.6 years and male/female 390/195, while recipients had a mean age 27.5 ± 5.3 and male/female 523/83. Renal dysfunction defined as acute rejection, acute tubular necrosis and Delay graft function.. In this study common alleles at each of the loci for the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I (A, B, and C) and class II (DR and DQ) were A2 (n = 186, 33.8%), Bw6 (n = 196, 47.5%), Cw4 (n = 164, 39.7%), DR52 (n = 161, 29.6%), DQ3 (n = 101, 40.1%) for donors; while A2 (n = 200, 34%), BW6 (n = 235, 38.8%), Cw6 (n = 23, 15.2%), DR511 (n = 174, 30.4%), DQ1 (n = 99, 46.3%) for recipients. We detected a total of 139 case of renal dysfunction among RTRs. By the way only cold ischemic time (P = 0.03) and severe anemia (P = 0.000) were significantly associated with renal dysfunction early post kidney transplantation.. We can predict high risk groups before kidney transplantation and try to establish a screening program for the detection of genetic susceptibility to renal function impairment. HLA typing of the donors and recipients might influence the development of new treatment strategy..

Testicular chloroma is an unusual form of extramedullary acute myeloid leukemia. We present a rare case that after chemotherapy relapsed with the appearance of metachronous testicular chloroma and we suggest prophylactic radiotherapy..

Amyloidosis is a disorder of protein metabolism characterized by extracellular deposition of abnormal protein fibrils. It may either be localized to any organ or systematically distributed throughout the body. The biochemical nature of proteins varies but the physical and tinctorial properties are shared by all the amyloidogenic proteins. In the West, it is mainly composed of amyloid light (AL) type immunoglobulin (Ig) light chains. Amyloidosis of the genitourinary tract is rare except for the kidney and isolated primary amyloidosis of the urinary bladder is even rarer. It mainly presents as intermittent painless gross hematuria. It mimics transitional cell carcinoma on imaging and endoscopic examination. We herein present a case of fifty six-years-old male with history of painless hematuria for three months. Cystoscopy revealed a 1 cm hyperemic area on the posterior wall of urinary bladder. The biopsy showed features of amyloidosis and amyloid A (AA) immunostaining was negative. Extensive workup was done to exclude other sites of involvement and a final diagnosis of primary localized amyloidosis of the urinary bladder was made. The patient is on regular follow-up..

Actinomycosis can involve all parts of the urogenital system. Urachal actinomycosis rarely reported and was mistaken with urachal adenocarcinoma. We report a case of urachal actinomycosis that presented with abdominal pain and underwent laparotomy with the diagnosis of urachal malignancy pathology reviewed the diagnosis of urachal actinomycosis. Patient had no problem in two years follow up..

The most common complication of renal transplantation is allograft dysfunction, which in some cases leads to graft loss. The role of graft nephrectomy in the management of transplant failure is controversial. The procedure remains associated with a significant morbidity and also mortality. Our main purpose was the comparison between clinical and pathological diagnosis of graft nephrectomy..Patients and The documents of 88 patients who admitted for graft nephrectomy in Shariaty hospital for the last 25 years were reviewed. Slides of graft pathology were revised by an individual nephropathologist. Data was analyzed by SPSS 18 using ANOVA and Chi-square tests.. The percentages of clinical diagnoses for the graft nephrectomy are: chronic rejection (38%), graft infection (26%), gross hematuria (10%), acute rejection (10%), accelerated rejection (8%), hyper-acute rejection (4%) and thrombosis of the renal artery (4). On the other hand, the pathological diagnoses are: necrosis concomitant with thrombosis (35%), only necrosis (26%) and 5 (3) concomitant with 4 (3) in 16% of cases that means severe interstitial atrophy and fibrosis adjacent with acute cellular rejection and intramural vasculitis.. Pathology included necrosis in about half of the graft nephrectomized patients. If the panel reactivity test is negative preoperatively, and there is no absolute indication for the operation, one may abstain from graft nephrectomy to save the patient, the morbidity and even the mortality of the procedure. On the other hand, the advantages of leaving the graft in situ are erythropoietin production, hydroxylation of calcidiol and maintenance of some residual diuresis..