Tag Archives: cardiorenal forum

What’s new in transplantation Are kidney donors worse off? The meeting was opened by Dr Anna Price (Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Birmingham) who addressed the long-term cardiovascular effects of unilateral nephrectomy in living kidney donors.1 Previous studies have shown a significant prevalence of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD),2,3 but the effects of reduced renal function in living kidney donors has been unexplored until now. A recent study by Price et al. demonstrated that living kidney donors had a reduction in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) from 95 to 67 ml/min

Do new diabetes drugs protect the heart and kidney? The day’s keynote session was given by Professor Johannes Mann (Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen, Germany). Diabetes management has been transformed with the introduction of newer agents with the promise of cardiovascular and renal protection. The sodium glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors are known to reduce the hyperfiltration, which occurs in early diabetic nephropathy. Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists are incretin mimetics, which have several benefits for diabetes management. The mechanisms by which GLP-1 agonist therapy may reduce blood pressur

Hyperkalaemia is often multifactorial in origin and may be seen in chronic kidney disease (CKD), acute kidney injury, heart failure, diabetes, elderly patients and those prescribed renin-angiotensin-aldosterone-system (RAAS) antagonists. This important area is often somewhat neglected by healthcare professionals. Left untreated, high potassium increases the risk of mortality in CKD and can also result in increased risk of serious cardiac arrhythmia and other acute complications. Chronically it may result in patients with heart failure having symptom and life-improving treatments withdrawn. New therapies for hyperkalaemia are now coming throu

Managing risk factors – the old offenders Diet An update on diet and cardiovascular disease was given by Professor Kay Tee Khaw (University of Cambridge). A surprise recent finding has been that increased body mass index (BMI) trends do not directly correlate with cardiovascular mortality, particularly in Mediterranean countries (figure 1). Figure 1. Body mass index and associated coronary heart disease in Europe. Panel a) body mass index; panel b) coronary heart disease This gives rise to the question: is diet a key moderating factor in the relationship between BMI and cardiovascular mortality? The PREDIMED (Effects of the Mediterranean Di

Introduction As doctors and scientists we are accustomed to breaking down problems and simplifying complex pathology in order to focus our management and identify possible targets for future therapies. The pathophysiology of cardiorenal disease is no different but, as yet, attempts to elucidate the complex interaction between heart and kidneys has failed. Although cardiac and renal disease are often diagnosed together, it is clear that a straightforward causal relationship does not exist. Disease in either serves as a risk factor for disease in the other and perpetuates the progression of that disease, but why this is so is unclear. Whilst th