Ya‐Wen Chuang

BACKGROUNDS: Variability of blood trough concentration (C0) in immunosuppressant leads to rejection and graft loss after kidney transplantation. METHODS: The aim of this study is to prospectively investigate the change of within-patient variability among stable kidney transplant recipients with conversion from twice-daily Prograf to the same milligram-for-milligram daily dose of once-daily Advagraf. RESULTS: The mean age of 129 patients was 51.3±12.1 years. The conversion to Advagraf was administrated at 6.3±4.8 years after transplantation. The daily dose was changed from 4.7±2.0 mg to 4.9±2.1 mg after conversion. Only six patients increased daily dose by 16.7% to 25% to maintain target levels. The whole blood C0 of tacrolimus before conversion was 5.9±1.7 ng/mL. The mean C0 was significantly reduced after conversion to Advagraf; it was 4.9±1.5 ng/mL on the seventh day (P<0.001) and 5.4 to 5.5 ng/mL at 1 to 6 months (P<0.05). Forty-one (31.8%) patients have reduced C0 of more than 25% on the seventh day. The percent coefficient of variation of tacrolimus C0 more than 22.5% before conversion is associated with higher risk of reduced C0 after conversion (P<0.05). Compared with before conversion, less kidney transplant recipients have percent coefficient of variation more than 22.5% after conversion (3.1% vs. 17.4% with P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The results support that conversion from Prograf to Advagraf among kidney transplant recipient leads to a significantly lower C0 and within-patient variability of tacrolimus C0. The within-patient variability of C0 before conversion influences C0 on the sevent day after conversion to Advagraf.

BACKGROUND: Hypokalaemia is a relatively common complication in uraemic patients undergoing continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). The hazards of hypokalaemia are multiple and have been correlated with patient morbidity and mortality. Whether it is associated with increased risk of peritonitis remains to be addressed. METHODS: We retrospectively analysed our CAPD patients who had complicating peritonitis in a 2-year period. The influence of hypokalaemia on the clinical features of peritonitis was assessed. From September 2003 to August 2005, 140 unselected patients undergoing CAPD treatment and followed up in our hospital were recruited for the study. Hypokalaemia was defined as a serum potassium level <3.5 mmol/l. The impact of hypokalaemia on several clinical parameters, including the nutrition status, dialysis adequacy, occurrence of peritonitis and the etiologic pathogens, was analysed. RESULTS: During the study period, 462 determinations (23.6%) were below quantity <mmol/l. The overall peritonitis rate was 30.6 patient-month per episode (total 64 episodes). The prevalence of peritonitis was significantly higher in patients with hypokalaemia (6.9%) compared to those without hypokalaemia (2.1%, P < 0.001). Hypokalaemia was also associated with lower serum albumin (P < 0.001), serum phosphate (P < 0.001), total serum cholesterol (P = 0.049) and normalized protein nitrogen appearance (P < 0.001). There was no correlation between serum potassium level and daily PD exchange volume, total Kt/V, urine volume or daily ultrafiltration volume. The peritoneal equilibration test was not significantly different between patients with and without hypokalaemia. When the aetiologic organisms of peritonitis were grouped according to their usual site of colonization, Enterobacteriaceae appeared to be much more prevalent than epidermal microorganisms (53.1% versus 18.8%, P = 0.004) in the hypokalaemia group. However, this was not the case in patients with normal serum potassium. CONCLUSION: CAPD patients with hypokalaemia are associated with a higher prevalence of peritonitis and poor nutritional status. Enterobacteriaceae were the predominant organisms causing peritonitis in the group with hypokalaemia. This unique and novel finding implies the translocation of these organisms from intestinal mucosa into the peritoneal cavity. A pathogenic mechanism linking malnutrition and hypokalaemia is also proposed.

// Chin-Chuan Chang 1, 2 , Shih-Feng Cho 3 , Ya-Wen Chuang 1 , Chia-Yang Lin 1 , Shu-Min Chang 1 , Wen-Ling Hsu 1 and Ying-Fong Huang 1, 4 1 Department of Nuclear Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan 2 Institute of Clinical Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan 3 Division of Hematology &amp; Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan 4 Department of Medical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan Correspondence to: Ying-Fong Huang, email: huangyfnm@gmail.com Keywords: diffuse large B-cell lymphoma; MTV; TLG; FDG PET/CT; prognosis Received: May 09, 2017&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp; Accepted: July 25, 2017&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp; Published: August 24, 2017 ABSTRACT Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine the prognostic significance of metabolic parameters on pre-treatment 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/ computed tomography (FDG PET/CT), in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) receiving rituximab-containing therapy. Materials and Methods From September 2009 to December 2014, DLBCL patients who had received FDG PET/CT scans for staging were enrolled. The maximal standardized uptake value of tumor (SUVt) was recorded. The metabolic tumor volume (MTV) was the volume of lesion with an elevated SUV greater than 2.5. The total lesion glycolysis (TLG) was the sum of the products of MTV and mean SUV in all measured lesions. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to assess the prognostic significance of maximal SUVt, total MTV, TLG and other clinical parameters. Results There were 118 patients enrolled in this study. The median follow-up time was 28.7 months. The 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) for patients with higher and lower total MTV was 32.3% and 66.0% respectively ( p = 0.0001). The 5-year overall survival (OS) for patients with higher and lower total MTV was 34.3% and 69.9% respectively ( p &lt; 0.0001). Multivariate analysis revealed, besides IPI, that total MTV was independently predictive for PFS (HR: 2.31, 95% CI: 1.16 &ndash; 4.60, p = 0.0180) and OS (HR: 2.38, 95% CI: 1.12 &ndash; 5.04, p = 0.024). TLG and maximal SUV of tumor were not independent prognostic factors. Conclusions An elevated total MTV was a predictor for shorter PFS and OS in patients with DLBCL receiving rituximab-containing therapy, independent of IPI.