Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitides are usually treated with a combination of high-dose corticosteroids and cyclophosphamide therapy to induce remission, commonly followed by maintenance treatment with a less-toxic immunosuppressant. Azathioprine and methotrexate are both options for maintenance therapy, but whether one of these immunosuppressants is superior to the other is unclear.
The discovery that antibodies to a bacterial antigen can cross-react with a mammalian protein to cause pauci-immune necrotizing and crescentic glomerulonephritis opens up new possibilities for the diagnosis and treatment of this condition.
A recent report showed that hypophosphatemia is common in children undergoing continuous renal replacement therapy, and that adding phosphate to the replacement and dialysate solutions significantly reduced the incidence of this complication. Should such supplementation be routinely performed?
A recent study reported that combination therapy with sirolimus plus either tacrolimus or ciclosporin resulted in effective immunosuppression in high-risk renal allograft recipients. Does such combination therapy really represent an advance in immunosuppressive therapy for these individuals?
Trials that compared sodium bicarbonate and sodium chloride for the prevention of contrast-induced acute kidney injury have yielded highly conflicting results. The authors of a recent meta-analysis endeavored to provide a definitive assessment of the relative efficacy of these two intravenous fluids.
Urine microscopy is a time-honored, readily available and commonly used noninvasive test to aid clinicians in discriminating between different forms of acute kidney injury. However, the diagnostic and prognostic importance of assessing urinary sediment is largely unknown.
At first glance, the findings of the ACCOMPLISH trial threaten to undermine the importance of diureticss in the arsenal of blood-pressure-lowering therapies. But closer examination reveals that the story is more complicated.
World Kidney Day 2009 was celebrated last month in more than 100 countries, and aimed to raise awareness that the symbiotic relationship between hypertension and kidney disease should be prevented.
Predicting outcomes of renal transplant recipients using standard statistical techniques is difficult. Novel approaches such as the use of artificial neural networks might improve the precision and accuracy in this area of medicine in which numerous and complex events contribute to outcomes.
A recent meta-analysis concluded that plasma exchange is the most effective intervention for thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura and that plasma manipulation offers no additional benefit over simple supportive therapy in hemolytic uremic syndrome. These findings must be interpreted with great caution, as response to treatment depends on the underlying disease etiology.
