August was a month of new research and reconsidering previously held notions, with a team from Stanford University School of Medicine (Palo Alto, USA) suggesting that dialysis may not be suitable for elderly patients, pre-emptive kidney transplant programmes being examined at the UK Kidney Association (UKKA) UK Kidney Week (UKKW) meeting (11–13 June, Edinburgh, UK), and multiple trials and studies meeting important landmarks.
A new study recently published in Annals of Internal Medicine by lead author Maria Montez Rath, senior author Manjula Tamura (both Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, USA) et al suggests that there is more consideration needed regarding the suitability of dialysis for older adults with kidney failure.
At this year’s UKKA UKKW meeting (11–13 June, Edinburgh, UK), Renal Interventions spoke with Frank Dor (previously Imperial College Healthcare NHS trust, London, UK, now Erasmus MC Transplant Institute, Rotterdam, The Netherlands) about pre-emptive kidney transplantation and the benefits of moving towards a kidney care programme that features it as a focal point.
Nikos Giannikas and Panos Kitrou (Patras, Greece) write together about the role that endothelial tight junctions play in vascular access, evidence from previous studies, and a proposed upcoming study that aims to evaluate the expression of the main tight junctions (TJ) proteins at the endothelium of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) patients.
At the recent UK Kidney Week (UKKW) meeting (11–13 June, Edinburgh, UK), a debate was held on the topic of dialysis modalities and which was the best option for elderly and frail patients. Presenting their arguments were the president of the International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis (ISPD), Edwina Brown (Imperial College London, London, UK), who was defending the statement “PD is the optimal dialysis modality for many when old and frail”, and Jeremy Levy (Imperial College London, London, UK), who was presenting his case against the statement.
Humacyte announced positive top-line results from the V007 Phase 3 clinical trial of the acellular tissue engineered vessel (ATEV) in arteriovenous access for patients with end-stage renal disease. It stated in a press release that the ATEV demonstrated superior function and patency at six and 12 months (co-primary endpoints) compared to autogenous fistula, which is the current standard of care for haemodialysis patients.
Vascular Therapies has today announced completion of enrolment in the ACCESS 2 trial, a Phase III prospective randomised, multicentre clinical study of Sirogen for the surgical creation of arteriovenous (AV) fistula in patients requiring haemodialysis vascular access.
After taking part in a panel discussion at this year’s UKKA UKKW (11–13 June, Edinburgh, UK) that examined the benefits of pre-emptive kidney transplantation, Kudz Munongi, a senior lecturer in accounting and finance at the University of Sunderland (Sunderland, UK), writes about his experience as a kidney transplant recipient—having undergone his first kidney transplantation 16 years ago—and reflects on how his personal experience may have been different if he had undergone a pre-emptive transplantation.
Diality announced that it has secured 510(k) clearance from the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for its Moda–flx haemodialysis system. According to Diality’s press release, the Moda–flx haemodialysis system is designed to “empower kidney care professionals” with a wide range of variable flow rate ranges, integrated reverse osmosis water filtration, and an intuitive, easy-to-use graphical user interface.
China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has granted a Class III Medical Devices Certificate of Registration for the msRDN radiofrequency renal denervation system (SyMap Medical).
At this year’s UKKA UKKW meeting (11–13 June, Edinburgh, UK), Renal Interventions spoke with the outgoing president of the UKKA, Paul Cockwell (University Hospitals Birmingham, Birmingham, UK) about his thoughts on the highlights of the meeting and what can be expected from the UKKA in the upcoming year.
