February 24, 2011
School of Medicine, Kochi
In the recently concluded 31st Annual Conference of Indian Society of Nephrology (Southern Chapter), doctors, faculty and postgraduate scholars from the Department of Nephrology at the Amrita School of Medicine participated actively.
They came back home with several honors.
Dr. G. Lakshminarayana, Assistant Professor and Ms. Srija M., final-year M.Sc. student of Allied Health Sciences, won best paper awards for their respective papers.
Dr. Lakshminarayana’s paper was titled Preoperative risk scoring to predict the incidence and outcome of acute renal failure following cardiac surgery.
The second award-winning paper, Serum free light chain assay and multiple myeloma associated renal failure was presented by Ms. Srija of the same department.
Apart from these two best paper awards, Dr. Lakshminarayana and Dr. Benoy Shankar bagged the second prize in the quiz competition.
Below we present the work featured in the two award-winning papers.
“Acute renal failure (ARF), a rapid loss of kidney function, following cardiac surgery remains a major cause for morbidity and mortality,” shared Dr. Lakshminarayana, explaining his work.
His paper studied the incidence of acute renal failure following all cardiac surgeries, the effect of acute renal failure on hospital stay and in-hospital mortality. Preoperative risk factor scoring analysis to predict the occurrence and outcome of acute renal failure was evaluated.
The doctor elaborated further.
“The study helped to prove that the incidence of acute renal failure varied based on the type of surgery performed. The incidence of ARF and dialysis-requiring ARF (ARF-D) was higher in patients who underwent combined cardiac surgeries, CABG and valve surgery. Those patients with ARF who need dialysis have increased morbidity and mortality.”
“The study validated the ARF risk scoring system by Cleveland Clinic Foundation for Indian population. This scoring system can be used to identify the high risk category patients who may develop ARF and require dialysis, so that they can be better managed at centers with appropriate facilities.”
Serum free light chain assay is a blood test that plays an important role in the diagnosis and treatment of myeloma.
“In patients with multiple myeloma, renal failure is a frequent complication that causes significant morbidity,” stated Ms. Srija. “In a majority of cases, the accumulation and precipitation of light chains lead to cast nephropathy.”
Her paper highlighted the following facts.
Serum free light chain assay in multiple myeloma aids in prognosticating patients with renal failure.Those with renal dysfunction at diagnosis of myeloma along with high serum free light chain ratio (kappa/lambda) had severe renal failure. Those with lower kappa/lambda ratio also had severe renal failure which improved with treatment.Several other papers presented by the Amrita faculty on topics such as quality of life in hemodialysis patients, acute renal failure in H1N1 infections, panniculitis in nephrotic syndrome, acute renal failure in aortic aneurysms, and comparison of quality of life in patients on dialysis & those who underwent kidney transplantation gained appreciation.
