Kremers, Walter K

Share 35 was implemented in 2013 to direct livers to the most urgent candidates by prioritizing Model for End‐Stage Liver Disease (MELD) ≥ 35 patients. We aim to evaluate this policy's impact on costs and mortality. Our study includes 834 wait‐listed patients and 338 patients who received deceased donor, solitary liver transplants at Mayo Clinic between January 2010 and December 2014. Of these patients, 101 (30%) underwent transplantation after Share 35. After Share 35, 29 (28.7%) MELD ≥ 35 patients received transplants, as opposed to 46 (19.4%) in the pre–Share 35 era (P = 0.06). No significant difference in 90‐day wait‐list mortality (P = 0.29) nor 365‐day posttransplant mortality (P = 0.68) was found between patients transplanted before or after Share 35. Mean costs were $3,049 (P = 0.30), $5226 (P = 0.18), and $10,826 (P = 0.03) lower post‐Share 35 for the 30‐, 90‐, and 365‐day pretransplant periods, and mean costs were $5010 (P = 0.41) and $5859 (P = 0.57) higher, and $9145 (P = 0.54) lower post‐Share 35 for the 30‐, 90‐, and 365‐day posttransplant periods. In conclusion, the added cost of transplanting more MELD ≥ 35 patients may be offset by pretransplant care cost reduction. Despite shifting organs to critically ill patients, Share 35 has not impacted mortality significantly. Liver Transplantation 23:11–18 2017 AASLD.

AbstractIntroduction: Peripherally inserted central venous catheters (PICCs) may adversely impact future successful arteriovenous fistulae (AVF). As part of a quality improvement project, the performance of tunneled small bore tunneled central venous catheters (TSB‐CVCs), as alternatives to PICCs, was evaluated.Methods: A retrospective observational study, involving individuals ≥18 years of age who underwent TSB‐CVC placement by Interventional Radiology at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN between 1/1/2010 and 8/30/2013.Findings: The study cohort included 92 patients with a median age of 55 (46–67) years, who underwent 108 TSB‐CVC placements. Baseline renal disease was present in 71% (77/108). Most TSB‐CVCs were placed in hospitalized patients (94%; 102/108); five French in diameter (61%; 66/108) and located in an internal jugular vein (84%; 91/108). Median catheter indwelling time was 20 (11–43) days (n = 84). TSB‐CVC‐related bloodstream infection, deep venous thrombosis (DVT), and superficial venous thrombosis (SpVT) rates per line were 0.009 (1/108), 0.018 (2/108), and 0.009 (1/108), respectively. Venous outcomes in a subgroup of 54 patients, who had documented PICC placements (n = 161) in addition to TSB‐CVC (n = 58) were compared. TSB‐CVC‐DVT rate was lower than the PICC‐DVT rate (0.017 [1/58] vs. 0.106 per line [17/161]; P = 0.04). The TSB‐CVC‐SpVT rate was not different from the PICC‐SpVT rate (0 [0/58] vs. 0.037 [6/161] per line; P = 0.14).Discussion: TSB‐CVCs demonstrated an excellent safety profile in our study. These catheters should be preferentially utilized for arm vein preservation in advanced kidney disease. Their impact on future AVF success needs further evaluation.

AbstractIntroductionThe Mediterranean diet (MeDi) is associated with reduced risk of cognitive impairment, but it is unclear whether it is associated with better brain imaging biomarkers.MethodsAmong 672 cognitively normal participants (mean age, 79.8 years, 52.5% men), we investigated associations of MeDi score and MeDi components with magnetic resonance imaging measures of cortical thickness for the four lobes separately and averaged (average lobar).ResultsHigher MeDi score was associated with larger frontal, parietal, occipital, and average lobar cortical thickness. Higher legume and fish intakes were associated with larger cortical thickness: legumes with larger superior parietal, inferior parietal, precuneus, parietal, occipital, lingual, and fish with larger precuneus, superior parietal, posterior cingulate, parietal, and inferior parietal. Higher carbohydrate and sugar intakes were associated with lower entorhinal cortical thickness.DiscussionIn this sample of elderly persons, higher adherence to MeDi was associated with larger cortical thickness. These cross‐sectional findings require validation in prospective studies.

Nephron number may be an important determinant of kidney health but has been difficult to study in living humans. We evaluated 1638 living kidney donors at Mayo Clinic (MN and AZ sites) and Cleveland Clinic. We obtained cortical volumes of both kidneys from predonation computed tomography scans. At the time of kidney transplant, we obtained and analyzed the sections of a biopsy specimen of the cortex to determine the density of both nonsclerotic and globally sclerotic glomeruli; the total number of glomeruli was estimated from cortical volume×glomerular density. Donors 18–29 years old had a mean 990,661 nonsclerotic glomeruli and 16,614 globally sclerotic glomeruli per kidney, which progressively decreased to 520,410 nonsclerotic glomeruli per kidney and increased to 141,714 globally sclerotic glomeruli per kidney in donors 70–75 years old. Between the youngest and oldest age groups, the number of nonsclerotic glomeruli decreased by 48%, whereas cortical volume decreased by only 16% and the proportion of globally sclerotic glomeruli on biopsy increased by only 15%. Clinical characteristics that independently associated with fewer nonsclerotic glomeruli were older age, shorter height, family history of ESRD, higher serum uric acid level, and lower measured GFR. The incomplete representation of nephron loss with aging by either increased glomerulosclerosis or by cortical volume decline is consistent with atrophy and reabsorption of globally sclerotic glomeruli and hypertrophy of remaining nephrons. In conclusion, lower nephron number in healthy adults associates with characteristics reflective of both lower nephron endowment at birth and subsequent loss of nephrons.

Background and objectives eGFR equations have been evaluated in kidney transplant recipients with variable performance. We assessed the performance of the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease equation and the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration equations on the basis of creatinine, cystatin C, and both (eGFR creatinine-cystatin C) compared with measured GFR by iothalamate clearance and evaluated their non-GFR determinants and associations across 15 cardiovascular risk factors. Design, setting, participants, & measurements A cross-sectional cohort of 1139 kidney transplant recipients >1 year after transplant was analyzed. eGFR bias, precision, and accuracy (percentage of estimates within 30% of measured GFR) were assessed. Interaction of each cardiovascular risk factor with eGFR relative to measured GFR was determined. Results Median measured GFR was 55.0 ml/min per 1.73 m 2 . eGFR creatinine overestimated measured GFR by 3.1% (percentage of estimates within 30% of measured GFR of 80.4%), and eGFR Modification of Diet in Renal Disease underestimated measured GFR by 2.2% (percentage of estimates within 30% of measured GFR of 80.4%). eGFR cystatin C underestimated measured GFR by −13.7% (percentage of estimates within 30% of measured GFR of 77.1%), and eGFR creatinine-cystatin C underestimated measured GFR by −8.1% (percentage of estimates within 30% of measured GFR of 86.5%). Lower measured GFR associated with older age, women, obesity, longer time after transplant, lower HDL, lower hemoglobin, lower albumin, higher triglycerides, higher proteinuria, and an elevated cardiac troponin T level but did not associate with diabetes, smoking, cardiovascular events, pretransplant dialysis, or hemoglobin A1c. These risk factor associations differed for five risk factors with eGFR creatinine, six risk factors for eGFR Modification of Diet in Renal Disease, ten risk factors for eGFR cystatin C, and four risk factors for eGFR creatinine-cystatin C. Conclusions Thus, eGFR creatinine and eGFR creatinine-cystatin C are preferred over eGFR cystatin C in kidney transplant recipients because they are less biased, more accurate, and more consistently reflect the same risk factor associations seen with measured GFR.

Background: In the presence of a competing risk of death, the Kaplan-Meier method is known to overestimate the probability of implant failure. To our knowledge, the magnitude of the competing risk of death in survivorship analyses in total knee arthroplasty has not been studied. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of the competing risk of death in different age groups during a long-term follow-up of patients who had undergone primary total knee arthroplasty. Methods: The study population comprised 22,864 primary total knee arthroplasties at a large medical center in the United States. We compared the overall revision outcomes estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and the cumulative incidence function over a mean follow-up of 7.8 years (range, 0.1 to 26.3 years). Results: The risk of death exceeded the risk of revision by a factor of 4 at twelve years following the surgical procedure. The Kaplan-Meier method overestimated the risk of revision by 3% at five years, 14% at ten years, 32% at fifteen years, and 57% at twenty years. At ten years after the surgical procedure, the risk of death exceeded the risk of revision by a factor of 15 in the all-polyethylene group and by a factor of 3.5 in the metal modular group. The Kaplan-Meier method overestimated the ten-year risk of revision by 18% in the all-polyethylene group and by 11% in the metal modular group. After accounting for the higher competing risk of death in the all-polyethylene group, the cumulative incidence of revision in the metal modular group was about 2.5 to three times higher than that in the all-polyethylene group at ten years. Conclusions: Although the Kaplan-Meier and cumulative incidence methods yielded different implant survival estimates beyond ten years (Kaplan-Meier overestimates implant failure), the size of the bias was small at earlier time points. The extent of overestimation depends on the duration of follow-up and the magnitude of the competing risk of death. Clinical Relevance: This study examines the clinical relevance of the competing risk of death in total knee arthroplasty.

The ability to predict outcomes for individual patients would be a significant advance for not only counseling, but also identifying those for whom interventions may be needed. The goals of this study were to validate an existing risk prediction score that incorporates easily obtainable clinical factors and determine if histologic findings at 1-year surveillance biopsy and/or serum donor–specific alloantibody status could improve predictability of graft loss by 5 years. We retrospectively studied 1465 adults who received a solitary kidney transplant between January of 1999 and December of 2008 and had sufficiently detailed 5-year follow-up data for modeling. In this cohort, the Birmingham risk model (incorporating recipient factors at 1 year, including age, sex, ethnicity, renal function, proteinuria, and prior acute rejection) predicted death–censored and overall graft survival (c statistics =0.84 and 0.78, respectively). The presence of glomerulitis or chronic interstitial fibrosis (g and ci scores by Banff, respectively) on 1-year biopsy specimens independently correlated with graft loss by 5 years. Adding these variables to the model for death–censored graft loss increased predictability (c statistic =0.90), improved calibration (ability to stratify risk from high to low), and reclassified risk of failure in 29% of patients. Adding the presence of donor-specific alloantibody at 1 year did not improve predictability or reclassification but did improve calibration marginally. We conclude that, at 1 year after kidney transplant, a risk model of graft survival that incorporates clinical factors and histologic findings at surveillance biopsy is highly predictive of individual risk and well calibrated.

Background: Among patients treated nonoperatively for 1 year after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) disruption, little is known about the frequency of ACL reconstruction within the first year of injury and the effect of age range, sex, and meniscal tears on the incidence of ACL reconstruction between 1 and 10 years after injury. Purpose: To (1) define the rate of delayed ACL reconstruction (between 1 and 10 years after injury) in a population-based cohort of isolated ACL tears and (2) evaluate predictive factors associated with delayed reconstruction. Study Design: Case-control study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: The study included a population-based cohort of 1841 patients with new-onset, isolated ACL tears that occurred between January 1, 1990, and December 31, 2010. The complete medical records were reviewed to confirm diagnosis and collect data on clinical characteristics and details of subsequent ACL surgery. To evaluate the incidence of ACL reconstruction between 1 and 10 years after injury, landmark survival analysis was performed with a landmark set at 1 year after injury. Early and late predictors of ACL reconstruction were analyzed using Cox proportional hazards regression. Results: A total of 661 patients were treated nonoperatively for the first year after ACL tears. Over a mean 10 years of follow-up, 213 patients (32%) underwent ACL reconstruction between 1 and 10 years after injury. Young age (hazard ratio [HR], 0.55 per decade increase in age; 95% CI, 0.48-0.62) and meniscal tear at injury (HR, 1.48; 95% CI, 1.12-1.95) were significant predictors of undergoing delayed reconstruction. The rate of delayed ACL reconstruction decreased significantly over the study period ( P < .03). There was no association between sex (HR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.67-1.16) and delayed ACL reconstruction. Among patients who had delayed ACL reconstruction, 40% experienced a secondary meniscal tear before surgery. Conclusion: In this study population of 1841 patients, 62% of patients received ACL reconstruction within 1 year of injury. Of patients treated nonoperatively for 1 year after ACL tears, 32% underwent delayed ACL reconstruction. Predictors of reconstruction beyond 1 year were young age (50% reduction in reconstruction per decade increased age) and baseline meniscal tear. Sex was not predictive for reconstruction beyond 1 year from injury.