Gastrointestinal lesions in chronic kidney disease patients with anaemia

Comparison of endoscopic and pathological findings of the upper gastrointestinal tract in transplant candidate patients undergoing hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis treatment: a review of literature

Background

Dyspepsia is a common disorder in kidney transplant recipients, and the risk of post-transplant complications is increased in candidates with upper gastrointestinal disease. We evaluated gastrointestinal lesions of kidney transplant candidates on dialysis.

Methods

In this study, endoscopic and pathological findings in hemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients with gastrointestinal symptoms on the waiting list were compared.

Results

The most common non-ulcerous lesions in the endoscopic examination were gastritis (62.3%), erosive gastritis (38.7%), duodenal erosion or duodenitis (18.9%) and esophagitis (13.2%). The ulcerous lesion was present in only 3 patients. Gastroesophageal reflux disease, ulcerated lesion and non-ulcerated lesion rates were similar in both dialysis groups. Histopathological examination revealed Helicobacter pylori (HP) positivity in 28.3% of patients. HP positivity rate was significantly higher in PD patients than in HD patients (38.7% vs. 13.6%, p = 0.046). Chronic gastritis (75.5%) was the most common pathological finding. HP positivity rate was 37.5% in patients with chronic gastritis, but HP was negative in patients without chronic gastritis. In multivariate analysis, male gender, urea and albumin levels were associated with the presence of pathological chronic gastritis. The presence of gastritis, total cholesterol and ferritin levels were found significant for HP positivity. A total cholesterol > 243 mg/dL was significantly related to an increased risk of the presence of HP positivity.

Conclusions

Gastrointestinal lesions and HP infection are common in dialysis patients. Dialysis modality may affect the frequency of some lesions. It may be useful to have an endoscopic examination before entering the transplant waiting list for all candidates.

Angiodysplasia in Renal Disease Patients: Analysis of Risk Factors and Approach to Manage Such Patients

Gastrointestinal bleeding due to angiodysplasia is a common problem in patients with renal insufficiency. There are several theories to explain the increased occurrence of these lesions in this specific group of patients, including various metabolic factors and existence of comorbidities. Advancements made in diagnostic measures have helped route the approach in patients with different risk factors and have also helped solve the dual purpose involving therapeutic intervention with endoscopy. We conducted a thorough literature search on PubMed to extract relevant data. A total of 29 articles were chosen after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Although the clinical presentations may vary in this cohort of patients, and bleeding is known to stop spontaneously, a conservative approach may not be enough. Endoscopic treatment, use of hormones like estrogen, octreotide, and vasopressin, arterial embolization, and lastly surgery are valuable therapeutic tools.