PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

A Zambello

Publications and source records attributed to A Zambello.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

[Metabolic aspects of intestinal urinary diversion. Comparison with ileo-cecal bladder substitution and ileal conduct].

The aim of this study was the metabolic evaluation of 10 patients with 2 different types of urinary diversions, after cystectomy for infiltrating carcinoma. The patients were divided into two groups, homogeneous for age and follow up, according to the type of urinary diversion: group A (5 patients with ileo-cecal bladder) and group B (5 patients with ileal conduit). The follow up duration was 16.8 +/- 7.3 months in group A and 25.4 +/- 7.8 months, in group B. Even though the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in both groups was within the normal limits, however - on closer evaluation - patients of A group revealed a slight functional damage, shown by reduced creatinine secretion, lower bicarbonatemia and lower urinary acid secretion when compared with ileal conduit patients. According to this study, the ileal conduit seems to be associated with a fairly good metabolic status while the ileo-cecal bladder could require closer clinical-metabolic follow up and bicarbonate supplementation.

Acidosis

[Is it possible to improve the nutritional status of dialysis patients?].

It is well known that hemodialyzed patients show a protein-calorie malnutrition (PCM) due to several factors: dialytic and/or biologic age, diet, hormonal status, amino acid loss. The nutritional status of 44 HD patients was quarterly evaluated from september '87 to may '90 (32 months) and ten of them (5 M, 5 F) were treated by means of L-carnitine (6 g/ev/week) from september '88 to may '90. In the 5 treated males a net gain (+ 80 g/month) of the muscle mass was observed while the 5 treated females showed a low increase of fats. This trend was different (even though not significantly different) from that observed in the untreated group, in which a muscle mass loss and a fat increase was the rule.

Aged

Cardiovascular stability during the haemodialysis session: relationship between modelling and impedance parameters.

The percentage of body water, if calculated from impedance, was found to be significantly different from the classic 58%. This supports the view that the evaluation of the dialytic efficiency should be, in the near future, carried out on the basis of a 'two-pool' model instead of the old 'one-pool'. The serial collection of data during a dialytic session supported the hypothesis that, 90 min after the start or, in general, after a body-water loss of about 5%-6%, some fundamental changes in measured indexes (phase angle, systolic pressure, body volumes, correlation matrix) usually appear. Large-scale research, based on an RS 232 interface connected to a computerised program, will probably help in clarifying whether some major intra-dialytic phenomena could in the near future be easily and automatically predicted.

Body Water

Different buffers for hemodiafiltration: a controlled study.

Hemodiafiltration (HDF) is usually performed using a dialytic solution (D) containing acetate (A) or bicarbonate (B) and a replacement fluid (RF) containing lactate (L). To clarify the role of buffers in HDF, 11 patients underwent different study periods, each three months long: bicarbonate hemodialysis (BHD = Baseline period); HDF with (A) in D and (L) in RF (first period of HDF); HDF with (A) in D and (B) in RF (second HDF); HDF with (B) in D and (L) in RF (third HDF); HDF with (B) in D and (B) in RF (fourth HDF = BHDF). HDF achieved: 1) an increase in dialytic efficiency (kt/V, 1.28), reducing the time-session (197 min); 2) an improvement in acid-base status (pre-dialytic values in BHDF: pH 7.36; pCO2 39.8 mmHg; HCO3- 21.8 mM/L); 3) better "dry weight" gain (reached in 92.8% of HDF and in 81% of BHD sessions); 4) a significant decrease, in dialytic side-effects (mainly during the third and fourth periods). On the whole, BHDF (HDF done using only bicarbonate buffer) represents an easy and safe technique, leading to better cardiovascular stability than BHD and HDF without bicarbonate buffer.

Acetates

Intermittent venovenous hemofiltration as a chronic treatment for refractory and intractable heart failure.

Chronic heart failure (HF) is considered to be refractory when persisting despite an intensive drug regimen, or intractable when requiring "artificial" supports. Among them, hemofiltration (HE) has been used frequently, but only on an "acute" basis, to induce fast and safe water removal. Since 1985 the authors have treated refractory and intractable HF first by means of acute CAVH (continuous arteriovenous HE: 11 patients) and then (1988-1992) with IVVH (intermittent venovenous HE), initially done on an "acute" basis (13 patients) and then an a chronic basis (CIVVH): 8 subjects (6M, 2F; mean age, 60.8 years), 3 with RCHF and 5 with ICHF. This report deals with our experience in CIVVH. All patients were in severe failure. During a follow-up period of 63 months (range, 1-17/patient), 82 IVVH treatments (10.2/patient) were carried out, using this schedule: permanent Tesio catheter in superior vena cava, 0.6 m2 filter, double blood pump (blood flow = 80-250 ml/min); transmembrane pressure = 50-150 mmHg; mean ultrafiltration = 19 ml/min; replacement fluid = 8.6 ml/min; and session time = 340 +/- 88 min, according to individual dry weight (bioimpedance system). Six patients died (1-13 months after IVVH began); four of six had ICHF and two of six had RCHF; five of eight patients showed a significant amelioration of functional state, changing from fourth to third, to second and first degree failure, but this was after heart transplantation. In all cases a marked reduction in the drug regimen and in hospitalization was the rule.

Adult

The plasma glutathione peroxidase enzyme in hemodialyzed subjects.

The kidney is probably the major site of production of the plasma enzyme glutathione peroxidase (GSHPx-P). For this study, GSHPx-P activity was determined in 40 healthy people, in 34 patients with differing degrees of renal impairment, and in hemodialysis patients from whom blood samples were withdrawn either before or after each session (18 patients) or throughout the dialysis session (27 patients). Hemodialysis patients were treated by means of different techniques (bicarbonate hemodialysis, hemodiafiltration, and acetate free biofiltration), and different membranes (cuprophane, polyacrylonitrite, and polymethylmethacrylate). The following results were obtained: 1) GSHPx-P activity was significantly decreased in renal impairment patients; 2) GSHPx-P activity negatively correlated with serum creatinine values in renal impairment patients (r = -0.55; p < 0.001); and 3) the enzyme activity slightly increased after the session in hemodialysis patients. The following conclusions can be drawn: GSHPx-P activity could be new index of renal function, because it was decreased in patients with renal failure; the decrease in GSHPx-P activity paralleled the severity of renal impairment, and was maximal in hemodialysis patients; GSHPx-P activity was slightly raised at the end of the hemodialysis session, concomitant with other enzyme activities (aspartate transaminase, alanine transaminase, and alkaline phosphatase) and total protein concentration. This seems to be attributable to the process of water loss rather than other hypothetical mechanisms, such as A) enzyme activation by either peroxide generation during blood-membrane contact, or by the removal of a hypothetical inhibitor; and B) de novo synthesis in the residual renal mass or in other sites of production.

Body Water

Effect of aging on the body composition of dialyzed subjects. Comparison with normal subjects.

A bioimpedance analyzer (BIA-CHIP; Akern RJL System) was applied to 366 normal subjects (171 men and 195 women). Each gender group was divided into eight groups, according to age: 20-29 years; 30-39 years; 40-49 years; 50-59 years; 60-69 years; 70-79 years; 80-89 years; and 90-95 years. The same was done with 44 hemodialysis patients (22 men, 22 women), each being evaluated 15 times over a period of 5 years: these were divided into seven groups (seven, because no patient was older than 89) using the same criteria. For each subject, 23 parameters were determined: 5 directly measured (height, weight, resistance, reactance, phase angle) and the others (fat and lean mass, body water, body cell mass, extra and intracellular water, etc.) from appropriate equations. Twenty-four thousand data points were collected and served to form a data bank. Men and women on hemodialysis showed different effects of aging: women normalized their BC at an age > 70 years, whereas men continued to have a muscle mass lower than that of normal subjects until the age of 80. A computerized program (Nutritio) permits fast and reliable evaluation of the nutritional status of hemodialysis patients, each subject being compared with both the similarly aged population (dialyzed or not) or with his or her own data, obtained over time.

Adult