scholarly journals Triage of Patients Suspected of COVID-19 in Chronic Hemodialysis: Eosinophil Count Differentiates Low and High Suspicion of COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Romain Vial ◽  
Marion Gully ◽  
Mickael Bobot ◽  
Violaine Scarfoglière ◽  
Philippe Brunet ◽  
...  

Background: Daily management to shield chronic dialysis patients from SARS-CoV-2 contamination makes patient care cumbersome. There are no screening methods to date and a molecular biology platform is essential to perform RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2; however, accessibility remains poor. Our goal was to assess whether the tools routinely used to monitor our hemodialysis patients could represent reliable and quickly accessible diagnostic indicators to improve the management of our hemodialysis patients in this pandemic environment. Methods: In this prospective observational diagnostic study, we recruited patients from La Conception hospital. Patients were eligible for inclusion if suspected of SARS-CoV-2 infection when arriving at our center for a dialysis session between March 12th and April 24th 2020. They were included if both RT-PCR result for SARS-CoV-2 and cell blood count on the day that infection was suspected were available. We calculated the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic curve. Results: 37 patients were included in the final analysis, of which 16 (43.2%) were COVID-19 positive. For the day of suspected COVID-19, total leukocytes were significantly lower in the COVID-19 positive group (4.1 vs. 7.4 G/L, p = 0.0072) and were characterized by lower neutrophils (2.7 vs. 5.1 G/L, p = 0.021) and eosinophils (0.01 vs. 0.15 G/L, p = 0.0003). Eosinophil count below 0.045 G/L identified SARS-CoV-2 infection with AUC of 0.9 [95% CI 0.81—1] (p < 0.0001), sensitivity of 82%, specificity of 86%, a positive predictive value of 82%, a negative predictive value of 86% and a likelihood ratio of 6.04. Conclusions: Eosinophil count enables rapid routine screening of symptomatic chronic hemodialysis patients suspected of being COVID-19 within a range of low or high probability.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Romain Vial ◽  
Marion Gully ◽  
Mickael Bobot ◽  
Violaine Scarfoglière ◽  
Philippe Brunet ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Daily management to shield chronic dialysis patients from SARS-CoV-2 contamination makes patient care cumbersome. There are no screening methods to date and a molecular biology platform is essential to perform RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2; however, accessibility remains poor. Our goal was to assess whether the tools routinely used to monitor our hemodialysis patients could represent reliable and quickly accessible diagnostic indicators to improve the management of our hemodialysis patients in this pandemic environment.Methods: In this prospective observational diagnostic study, we recruited patients from La Conception hospital. Patients were eligible for inclusion if suspected of SARS-CoV-2 infection when arriving at our center for a dialysis session between March 12th and April 24th 2020. They were included if both RT-PCR result for SARS-CoV-2 and cell blood count on the day that infection was suspected were available. We calculated the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic curve.Results: 37 patients were included in the final analysis, of which 16 (43.2%) were COVID-19 positive. For the day of suspected COVID-19, total leukocytes were significantly lower in the COVID-19 positive group (4.1 vs 7.4 G/L, p=0.0072) and were characterized by lower neutrophils (2.7 vs 5.1 G/L, p=0.021) and eosinophils (0.01 vs 0.15 G/L, p=0.0003). Eosinophil count below 0.045 G/L identified SARS-CoV-2 infection with AUC of 0.9 [95% CI 0.81-1] (p<0.0001), sensitivity of 82%, specificity of 86%, a positive predictive value of 82%, a negative predictive value of 86% and a likelihood ratio of 6.04.Conclusions :Eosinophil count enables rapid routine screening of chronic hemodialysis patients suspected of being COVID-19 within a range of low or high probability.


2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faruk Turgut ◽  
Sana Sungur ◽  
Ramazan Okur ◽  
Mustafa Yaprak ◽  
Muge Ozsan ◽  
...  

Background: Bisphenol A (BPA) has been implicated as an ‘endocrine disruptor'. We aimed at exploring the association between serum BPA levels and patient characteristics, particularly the presence of diabetes mellitus, and laboratory parameters in hemodialysis patients. Methods: This study included 47 chronic hemodialysis patients. Patient characteristics were recorded. Blood was drawn before and after hemodialysis session. Serum BPA levels were measured by the high-performance-liquid-chromatography and laboratory parameters were measured by using standard methods. Results: In hemodialysis patients, postdialysis serum BPA levels were significantly higher than predialysis after a single hemodialysis session (5.57 ± 1.2 vs. 4.06 ± 0.73, p < 0.0001). Predialysis serum BPA levels were significantly higher in patients with diabetes than non-diabetics (4.4 ± 0.6 vs. 3.9 ± 0.7, p = 0.025). No association was found between serum BPA levels and patient characteristics, and particularly laboratory parameters. Conclusion: Serum BPA levels were rising significantly after a single dialysis session. Diabetic hemodialysis patients had higher predialysis serum BPA levels.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 1011-1016
Author(s):  
Kumtorn Lelamali ◽  
Piyarek Papirachanat ◽  
Thitiya Puavilai

Background: Dialysis access is an essential part of hemodialysis. Determining the access blood flow (Qa) can help predict arterio-venous fistula thrombosis. Qa determination by the urea method, which was previously described in the past is simple and is available in most of the dialysis units but was not be able to predict arterio-venous fistula thrombosis. Aim: To compare the efficacy of Qa determination by the urea method and by ultrasound dilution methods in predicting arterio-venous fistula failure. Methods: Qa was measured by urea method and by ultrasound dilution simultaneously, every 3 months for a period of 1 year, in stable chronic hemodialysis patients with arterio-venous fistula. Arterio-venous fistula failure determined by clinical parameters and confirmed by Doppler ultrasound before sending the patient for interventional angioplasty. Results: This study enrolled a total of 16 patients, with 63% being male, 75% with lower-arm arterio-venous fistula and around 43% with previously done angioplasty. 59-Qa measurements were done, and 6 patients underwent angioplasty (one patient for severe upper limb edema, one for access thrombosis, and four for access dysfunction). Qa determination by the urea method had non-significantly lower Qa, (745 mL/min (interquartile range: 509–1143) and 779 mL/min (interquartile range: 530–1160), (p = 0.58)) and high correlation (r = 0.83, p < 0.001) to Qa by ultrasound dilution. The cut-off criteria with its sensitivity and specificity in predicting the access failure were 440 mL/min, 66.67%, and 96.15% for Qa determination by the urea and 400 mL/min, 66.67% and 90.38% for Qa by ultrasound dilution, respectively, with no difference in the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. Conclusion: Measurement of Qa determination by the urea method is well correlated with Qa by ultrasound dilution and can be used to predict vascular access failure.


Diagnostics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 41
Author(s):  
Julien Guiot ◽  
Akshayaa Vaidyanathan ◽  
Louis Deprez ◽  
Fadila Zerka ◽  
Denis Danthine ◽  
...  

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has reached pandemic status. Drastic measures of social distancing are enforced in society and healthcare systems are being pushed to and beyond their limits. To help in the fight against this threat on human health, a fully automated AI framework was developed to extract radiomics features from volumetric chest computed tomography (CT) exams. The detection model was developed on a dataset of 1381 patients (181 COVID-19 patients plus 1200 non COVID control patients). A second, independent dataset of 197 RT-PCR confirmed COVID-19 patients and 500 control patients was used to assess the performance of the model. Diagnostic performance was assessed by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). The model had an AUC of 0.882 (95% CI: 0.851–0.913) in the independent test dataset (641 patients). The optimal decision threshold, considering the cost of false negatives twice as high as the cost of false positives, resulted in an accuracy of 85.18%, a sensitivity of 69.52%, a specificity of 91.63%, a negative predictive value (NPV) of 94.46% and a positive predictive value (PPV) of 59.44%. Benchmarked against RT-PCR confirmed cases of COVID-19, our AI framework can accurately differentiate COVID-19 from routine clinical conditions in a fully automated fashion. Thus, providing rapid accurate diagnosis in patients suspected of COVID-19 infection, facilitating the timely implementation of isolation procedures and early intervention.


2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatsuo Tsukamoto ◽  
Takayuki Matsubara ◽  
Yuka Akashi ◽  
Morihiro Kondo ◽  
Motoko Yanagita

Background: In order to keep up the optimal iron status in chronic hemodialysis patients, it is important to know how much iron is lost due to hemodialysis. Residual blood associated with the hemodialysis procedure together with blood sampling inevitably causes the loss of iron in chronic hemodialysis patients. Recent advances in hemodialysis techniques might have reduced this complication. In this cross-sectional study, we directly measured total iron loss by hemodialysis. Methods: Two hundred thirty-nine patients who received chronic hemodialysis at Otowa Memorial Hospital were enrolled; 65.7% of patients were men, and mean age was 67 ± 6.4 years (mean ± SD) and 43.2% were diabetic. Residual blood in blood tubing set and dialyzer after rinse back with saline was collected and homogenized. The iron content including free, protein-bound and heme iron was measured using an atomic absorption spectrometry. Results: The mean iron content in residual blood was 1,247.3 ± 796.2 µg (mean ± SD) and the median was 1,002 µg (95% CI 377.6-3,461.6 µg), indicating 160.8 mg (95% CI 58.9-540.0 mg) iron loss annually when hemodialysis was performed 156 times a year. Fifty milliliter whole blood for monthly blood test and another 2 ml of whole blood lost by paracentesis at every dialysis session contains 228.6 and 118.9 mg iron at 11 g/dl hemoglobin, respectively. Therefore, an annual total iron loss due to hemodialysis comes to 508.3 mg (95% CI 406.4-887.5 mg). Conclusions: Five hundred milligram of annual iron supplementation might be sufficient to maintain iron status in hemodialysis patients, which is less than the dose recommended as 1,000-2,000 mg a year. Further study will be required to verify this iron supplementation dosage with recent hemodialysis procedure.


Author(s):  
Yasmin S. Hammad ◽  
Samy A. Khodier ◽  
Ghada M. Al-Ghazaly ◽  
Ibrahim A. Nassar

Objective: The aim of this study was to  evaluate  the utility  of lung  ultrasonography  to  determine   the accuracy of prescribed  dry  weight in chronic hemodialysis patients  and  to  ascertain   the  adequacy  of  fluid  removal . Methods: In this cross sectional study LUS was performed immediately before and after (within 15 min) the dialysis session on 60 patients on regular hemodialysis, 4-hours per session, three times weekly at Tanta university hospitals, Internal Medicine Department, Nephrology units, Egypt. The ultrasonography B-lines was tabulated and compared to the intradialytic ultrafltration parameters and dry weight. Results: Positive significant correlation (P 0.02) was achieved between the intradialytic percentage change in B-lines and the percent change in total body weight reduction and also Positive significant correlation (P 0.05) was achieved between the intradialytic percentage change in B-lines and the ultrafiltration rate. Conclusion: LUS is a valuable diagnostic tool for recognizing the adequacy of fluid removal and to avoid inaccurate estimation of dry weight by usual clinical parameters or even radiologic studies including chest X-ray.


2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 159-65
Author(s):  
Hendra Salim ◽  
Soetjiningsih Soetjiningsih ◽  
I Gusti Ayu Trisna Windiani ◽  
I Gede Raka Widiana ◽  
PITIKA ASPR

Background Autism is a developmental disorder for which early detection in toddlers is recommended because of its increased prevalence. The Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) is an easy-to-interprete tool that can be filled out by parents. It has been translated into the Indonesian language but needs to be validated. Objective To evaluate the diagnostic validity of the Indonesian version of M-CHAT in detection of autism spectrum disorder in Indonesia. Methods A diagnostic study was conducted at Sanglah Hospital, Denpasar, Bali, from March 2011 to August 2013. Pediatric outpatients aged 18 to 48 months were included. The Indonesian version of the M-CHAT tool was filled by parents. Autism assessment was done according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV-TR). The assessment results were analyzed with the MedCalc program  software, in several steps: (i) reliability of M-CHAT; (ii) description, distribution, and proportion to determine the characteristics of the subjects of research; and (iii) validity of M-CHAT compared to the gold standard DSM-IV-TR by a receiver operating characteristic curve and several area under the curve cut-off points, in order to assess the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and positive and negative likelihood ratio, accompanied by the 95% confidence interval of each value. Results The Indonesian version of M-CHAT in toddlers had 82.35% sensitivity and 89.68% specificity, using the cut-off point of more than 6 failed questions. Conclusion The Indonesian version M-CHAT translated by Soetjiningsih has optimal diagnostic validity for detection of autism in toddlers.


2008 ◽  
Vol 294 (2) ◽  
pp. H651-H658 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meital Cohen-Mazor ◽  
Shifra Sela ◽  
Rafi Mazor ◽  
Neta Ilan ◽  
Israel Vlodavsky ◽  
...  

Patients on chronic hemodialysis (HD) are at high risk for developing atherosclerosis and cardiovascular complications. Heparanase, an endoglycosidase that cleaves heparan sulfate (HS) side chains of proteoglycans, is involved in extracellular matrix degradation and, as such, may be involved in the atherosclerotic lesion progression. We hypothesize that heparanase is elevated in HD patients, partly due to its release from primed circulating polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNLs), undergoing degranulation. Priming of PMNLs was assessed by levels of CD11b and the rate of superoxide release. Heparanase mRNA expression in PMNLs was determined by RT-PCR. PMNL and plasma levels of heparanase were determined by immunoblotting, immunofluorescence, and flow cytometry analyses. The levels of soluble HS in plasma were measured by a competition ELISA. This study shows that PMNLs isolated from HD patients have higher mRNA and protein levels of heparanase compared with normal control (NC) subjects and that heparanase levels correlate positively with PMNL priming. Plasma levels of heparanase were higher in HD patients than in NC subjects and were further elevated after the dialysis session. In addition, heparanase expression inversely correlates with plasma HS levels. A pronounced expression of heparanase was found in human atherosclerotic lesions. The increased heparanase activity in the blood of HD patients results at least in part from the degranulation of primed PMNLs and may contribute to the acceleration of the atherosclerotic process. Our findings highlight primed PMNLs as a possible source for the increased heparanase in HD patients, posing heparanase as a new risk factor for cardiovascular complications and atherosclerosis.


Diagnostics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 890
Author(s):  
Yu-Li Lin ◽  
Jia-Sian Hou ◽  
Yu-Hsien Lai ◽  
Chih-Hsien Wang ◽  
Chiu-Huang Kuo ◽  
...  

Sarcopenia is common in patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis, which leads to poor outcomes. SARC-F (sluggishness, assistance in walking, rising from a chair, climb stairs, falls), a self-report questionnaire, is recommended as an easily applied tool for screening sarcopenia in older people. However, there are limited data regarding its use in patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the association between SARC-F and mortality in these patients. SARC-F questionnaire was applied in 271 hemodialysis patients (mean age 64.4 ± 14.3 years) at baseline. The association between SARC-F and mortality during a 24-month follow-up was analyzed. During this follow-up period, 40 patients (14.8%) died. The discriminative power of SARC-F score for predicting mortality was 0.716 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.659–0.769; p < 0.001). The best cut-off was a score ≥1, which provided 85.0% sensitivity, 47.2% specificity, 21.8% positive predictive value, and 94.8% negative predictive value. Kaplan–Meier curves showed that patients with SARC-F ≥ 1 exhibited a higher risk of mortality than those with SARC-F < 1 (p < 0.001). Moreover, a stepwise decline in survival with higher SARC-F scores was also observed. After full adjustments, SARC-F ≥ 1 was independently associated with increased mortality (hazard ratio = 2.87, 95% CI = 1.11–7.38; p = 0.029). In conclusion, SARC-F applied for sarcopenia screening predicted mortality in patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noelia Diaz Troyano ◽  
Pablo Gabriel Medina ◽  
Stephen Weber ◽  
Martin Klammer ◽  
Raquel Barquin-DelPino ◽  
...  

Background: There is a need for better prediction of disease severity in patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Soluble angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (sACE2) arises from shedding of membrane ACE2 (mACE2) that is known to be a receptor for the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2; however, its value as a biomarker for disease severity is unknown. This study evaluated the predictive value of sACE2 in the context of other known biomarkers of inflammation and tissue damage (C-reactive protein [CRP], growth/differentiation factor-15 [GDF-15], interleukin-6 [IL-6], and soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 [sFlt-1]) in patients with and without SARS-CoV-2 with different clinical outcomes. Methods: For univariate analyses, median differences between biomarker levels were calculated for the following patient groups classified according to clinical outcome: reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 positive (Groups 1 – 4); RT-PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 negative following previous SARS-CoV-2 infection (Groups 5 and 6); and RT-PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 negative controls (Group 7). Results: Median levels of CRP, GDF-15, IL-6, and sFlt-1 were significantly higher in patients with SARS-CoV-2 who were admitted to hospital compared with patients who were discharged (all p<0.001), whereas levels of sACE2 were significantly lower (p<0.001). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of sACE2 provided cut-offs for the prediction of hospital admission of ≤0.05 ng/mL (positive predictive value: 89.1%) and ≥0.42 ng/mL (negative predictive value: 84.0%). Conclusion: These findings support further investigation of sACE2, either as a single biomarker or as part of a panel, to predict hospitalisation risk and disease severity in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2.


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