Non-tunneled catheters are associated with many complications, including infections and thrombosis. Objective: To determine the frequency of catheter infections in patients of hemodialysis despite using antibiotic locks, in a Tertiary Care Hospital Karachi. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study conducted at the department of nephrology, Liaquat national hospital and medical college, Karachi, Pakistan from 18th October 2020 to 18th April 2021. Patients of age 20 to 70 years of either gender on hemodialysis through double lumen catheter– non-cuffed for > 2 weeks were included in the study. Brief history was taken from all the patients. Gentamicin lock solutions were administered in all patients. Catheter tip was sent to institutional laboratory for culture and sensitivity to reach the outcome i-e catheter related infection. Results: The mean age was 58.97 + 14.82 years. The catheter related blood stream infection was in 21 patients (17.5%). The most common organism was coagulase negative Staphylococci (CoNS) (5.9%), followed by Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) (4.2%), respectively. There was insignificant association observed between catheter related blood stream infection and age groups, gender, comorbids, duration of catheter insertion and hemodialysis, site of catheter infection and reasons of hemodialysis (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Catheter-related infections in patients of hemodialysis despite using antibiotic locks is frequent but it has been observed that gram negative infections have responded well to gentamicin lock solution, where as in our study most common organism responsible for infection is coagulase negative Staph. followed by VRE

Background: Hyperuricemia is a well-established prognostic marker for chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. Therefore, in this study, our aim was to determine the prevalence of hyperuricemia in thrice-weekly hemodialysis patients at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study that included consecutive patients diagnosed with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on maintenance thrice-weekly hemodialysis (HD). Based on serum urate concentrations, hyperuricemia was labeled in male patients with > 7 mg/dL, and in female patients, the threshold value was >6 mg/dL. Results: The study included a total of 73 thrice-weekly hemodialysis patients out of which 64.4% (47) were male and mean age of the study sample was 50.3 ± 12.1 years. Hyperuricemia was observed in 76.7% (56) of the patients. Females (41.1% vs. 17.6%), diabetes (46.4% vs. 23.5%), and glomerulonephritis (5.4% vs. 0%) were relatively more common among patients with hyperuricemia than non- hyperuricemia patients, respectively. Similarly, severe left ventricular (LV) dysfunction (75% vs. 35.3%), severe mitral regurgitation (14.3% vs. 5.9%), and severe tricuspid regurgitation (12.5% vs. 5.9%) were relatively more common among patients with hyperuricemia than non- hyperuricemia patients, respectively. Conclusion: Hyperuricemia was prevalent in more than 3/4th of the thrice-weekly hemodialysis patients. Females, diabetics, glomerulonephritis, severe LV dysfunction with mitral regurgitation (severe) and tricuspid regurgitation (severe) were relatively more common among hyperuricemic patients.

Introduction: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) continues to remain high globally, up to 13.4% by one estimate. Objectives: The main objective of the study is to find the awareness of chronic kidney disease, medication, and laboratory investigation in different tertiary care hospitals in Karachi, Pakistan. Material and methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Naimat Baigum hospital and different tertiary care hospitals in Karachi, Pakistan. The data was collected with the permission of ethical committee of hospital. Informed consent was taken from all the selected patients. The data was collected through a designed questionnaire which include all the basic and demographic data. Results: The data was collected from 1000 patients of both genders. The mean age range was 45±5.67 years. The median age, blood pressure, blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine and urine specific gravity were presented in table 01. Patients with CKD had significantly lower hemoglobin, and higher reticulocyte counts, CRP and inflammation also present in patients with CKD. Conclusion: It is concluded that awareness about CKD in patients were low and its prevalence continues to remain high and is likely to increase globally. Keywords: CKD, Patients, Nephrology, CRP, BUN