The incidence of acute renal failure and high mortality rate in elderly patients hospitalized with community acquired pneumonia

Community acquired pneumonia is associated with high mortality and health care costs, especially in old age. The clinical presentation of pneumonia in the elderly may be asymptomatic or atypical. One of the known complication is an acute kidney injury. The purpose of our study was to estimate the incidence of this complication in elderly patients hospitalized with pneumonia in our geriatric hospital. From a group of 180 elderly patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia 34.4 % developed acute kidney injury. In this group, 51.6 % of patients died compared to 14.4 % in the group of patients without acute kidney injury (p < 0.001). The lower level of e-GFR was significantly associated with mortality (p < 0.001): out of seven patients with e-GFR level of 15-29 mg/mmol, five patients died (71.4 %). Elderly patients with community-acquired pneumonia suffering acute kidney injury experienced worse in-hospital outcomes; mortality rate was significantly higher in our study. We found a relationship between low level of e-GFR and mortality. Clinicians should be alert for early detection and prevention of kidney injury in patients admitted with pneumonia.

Closure of Loop Ileostomies: Is Early Discharge Safe and Achievable?

A prospective audit of the complications associated with reversal of a loop ileostomy was carried out between March 2000 and March 2005. The complication rate, length of inpatient hospitalisation and re-admission rate were assessed in 100 patients, in a single clinical practice. The median (interquartile range) length of time between the primary procedure and closure was 133 days (120 – 270) days. Median length of inpatient stay was two days (one - three) days. The overall complication rate was 18 %. One patient had a post-operative leak leading to local abscess formation. This was drained surgically after initial failure with radiological drainage. A second patient had a late leak, three weeks after closure, leading to fistula formation. This patient required surgical resection of the anastomosis after failure of conservative management. Twelve patients were re-admitted with small bowel obstruction (12%), of whom 11 were managed conservatively, while one underwent further surgery. There was one post- operative death as a result of acute cardiac failure secondary to undiagnosed hypertensive cardiomyopathy.

Thus early discharge following closure of a loop ileostomy, can be achieved with an acceptably low serious complication rate.