Kidney360Pub Date : 2025-06-25DOI: 10.34067/KID.0000000880
Ruqiyya Bano, Sean A P Clouston, Frank Mann, Babar A Khan, Melissa Carr, S Susan Hedayati, Benjamin J Luft, Farrukh M Koraishy
{"title":"Cognitive Impairment: A Novel Risk Factor for Rapid Kidney Function Decline and Incident CKD in Middle-Aged Adults.","authors":"Ruqiyya Bano, Sean A P Clouston, Frank Mann, Babar A Khan, Melissa Carr, S Susan Hedayati, Benjamin J Luft, Farrukh M Koraishy","doi":"10.34067/KID.0000000880","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34067/KID.0000000880","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Emerging evidence suggests that better cognition is associated with a lower risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, whether early-onset cognitive impairment (CI) at baseline is linked to rapid estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) decline or incident CKD remains unclear.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We conducted a prospective cohort study of 5,761 World Trade Center (WTC) responders (mean age: 53.8 ± 7.9 years) without CKD at baseline, followed for a mean of 4.2 ± 1.9 years. CI was defined as a Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score ≤23, with a subgroup analysis for baseline dementia (MoCA ≤18). Primary outcomes included annual eGFR change and rapid eGFR decline (< -5 mL/min/1.73 m2 per year). The secondary outcome was incident CKD (eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73 m2 or diagnosis code). Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models and linear regressions were used for binary and continuous outcomes, respectively. Sensitivity analyses included looking at the effect of baseline mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (MoCA score 19-23), propensity matching for demographics, baseline age <60 years, removal of baseline post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)/ depression or baseline head trauma/stroke/cardiovascular disease and after exclusion of those who died during follow-up.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>At baseline, 1,446 (25%) individuals had CI, while 89 (2%) had dementia. The mean baseline eGFR was 91.1 mL/min/1.73 m2, with an overall decline of -1.2 mL/min/1.73 m2 per year. Rapid eGFR decline occurred in 550 (10%) individuals. After adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, comorbidities, WTC exposure, screened PTSD, and baseline eGFR, CI and dementia were significantly associated with rapid eGFR decline (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR]: 1.63 and 2.42, respectively; both p < 0.001) and faster annual eGFR decline. Findings were consistent across all sensitivity analyses. Additionally, 248 (4%) individuals developed incident CKD. Both baseline CI (aHR: 1.72, p < 0.001) and dementia (aHR: 2.77, p = 0.010) were significantly associated with incident CKD.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Among middle-aged individuals without CKD, early-onset cognitive impairment was independently associated with rapid eGFR decline and incident CKD. These findings warrant validation in other cohorts.</p>","PeriodicalId":17882,"journal":{"name":"Kidney360","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144497464","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kidney360Pub Date : 2025-06-23DOI: 10.34067/KID.0000000867
Nicholas S Roetker, Alejandro Victores, Chuanyu Kou, Lori D Bash, Dena Rosen Ramey, Robert L Boggs, Xuehua Ke, Marc P Bonaca, James B Wetmore
{"title":"Health Care Resource Utilization and Costs of Major Adverse Thrombotic Events in Patients with and without ESKD.","authors":"Nicholas S Roetker, Alejandro Victores, Chuanyu Kou, Lori D Bash, Dena Rosen Ramey, Robert L Boggs, Xuehua Ke, Marc P Bonaca, James B Wetmore","doi":"10.34067/KID.0000000867","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34067/KID.0000000867","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Major adverse thrombotic events (MATEs) are an important cause of morbidity and mortality in people with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) receiving dialysis. Information on the extent to which the healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) and costs of treating MATEs differ between the dialysis and non-dialysis populations is limited.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries aged ≥66 years who experienced a first (index) MATE in 2015-2018 were studied using an observation cohort design. Individuals with ESKD receiving dialysis from the US Renal Data System were compared to individuals without ESKD from a 20% Medicare sample. MATEs were identified using claims-based algorithms. Outcomes included HCRU and Medicare payments during the index MATE and during a 1-year follow-up period. Costs of maintenance dialysis were excluded. Age-, sex-, and race-adjusted outcomes were estimated using model-based standardization. Separately for each MATE type, outcomes were compared for each of two ESKD cohorts (in-center hemodialysis [ICHD] and home dialysis) vs. a non-ESKD cohort.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Index MATE hospitalizations were roughly 1.2-1.3 times as long and 1.2-1.5 times as costly for patients with ESKD receiving ICHD (adjusted mean length of stay 7.0-10.3 days and cost $15.1K-$26.6K) than for patients without ESKD (5.6-7.6 days and $10.2K-$19.1K). Furthermore, in the 1-year follow-up, rates and per-person per-year costs of subsequent MATE-related hospitalizations were 2-3 times as high in patients receiving ICHD as in those without ESKD. HCRU and costs in patients receiving home dialysis were generally similar to, or higher than, in those receiving ICHD.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Among older adults with a MATE, those receiving dialysis had greater HCRU and costs compared to those without ESKD. Reducing HCRU and costs related to MATEs should be a focus of treatment for people receiving dialysis.</p>","PeriodicalId":17882,"journal":{"name":"Kidney360","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144475823","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kidney360Pub Date : 2025-06-20DOI: 10.34067/KID.0000000879
Henry H L Wu, Yandong Lang, Shannon Handley, Aline Knab, Adnan Agha, Yuan Tian, Akanksha Bhargava, Ewa M Goldys, Carol A Pollock, Sonia Saad
{"title":"Non-invasive Assessment of Urinary Exfoliated Proximal Tubule Cell Multispectral Autofluorescence May Differentiate Between Causes of Kidney Transplant Dysfunction.","authors":"Henry H L Wu, Yandong Lang, Shannon Handley, Aline Knab, Adnan Agha, Yuan Tian, Akanksha Bhargava, Ewa M Goldys, Carol A Pollock, Sonia Saad","doi":"10.34067/KID.0000000879","DOIUrl":"10.34067/KID.0000000879","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Complications relating to delayed or deteriorating graft function following kidney transplantation are common. There is no validated method apart from transplant kidney biopsy which can accurately identify between the histopathological causes of graft dysfunction. Considering an unmet critical need for a non-invasive approach to reliably diagnose kidney transplant complications, this work proposes a novel methodology based on the assessment of exfoliated proximal tubule cells (PTCs) extracted from urine of kidney transplant recipients by using their multispectral autofluorescence features.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Three groups of 10 patients who have undergone clinically indicated transplant kidney biopsy and was subsequently diagnosed with either acute tubular necrosis (ATN), graft rejection or non-rejection associated interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy (IFTA) took part in this study. Exfoliated PTCs from urine collected prior to transplant biopsy were extracted using a validated immunomagnetic separation method based on anti-CD13 and anti-SGLT2 antibodies. Imaging was performed on a custom-made multispectral autofluorescence microscopy and camera system. Multispectral autofluorescence images of PTCs were quantitatively analysed by using optimised small sets of features to prevent overfitting. Binary classification was carried out by a random forest classifier, and the AutoGluon machine learning software. Results were validated by 5-fold cross validation.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>For random forest classification, features were selected using entropy-based feature selection, resulting in AUC values of 0.92 (ATN versus graft rejection), 0.86 (ATN versus IFTA) and 0.62 (graft rejection versus IFTA) respectively. The AutoGluon classifier optimisation for the same features resulted in AUC values of 0.95 (ATN versus graft rejection), 0.92 (ATN versus IFTA) and 0.91 (graft rejection vs IFTA).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our results demonstrate a proof-of-concept that measurement of autofluorescent features from urinary exfoliated PTCs multispectral autofluorescence could differentiate between patient groups with ATN, graft rejection and IFTA in kidney transplant recipients to an excellent degree of accuracy using AutoGluon classifier optimisation.</p>","PeriodicalId":17882,"journal":{"name":"Kidney360","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144336663","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kidney360Pub Date : 2025-06-20DOI: 10.34067/KID.0000000844
Kai Hu, Lei Yuan, Cheng Xue, Jing Xu, Shiyin Tian, Zhiguo Mao
{"title":"The Influence of Different Kidney Replacement Modalities on Health-Related Quality of Life in ESKD Patients.","authors":"Kai Hu, Lei Yuan, Cheng Xue, Jing Xu, Shiyin Tian, Zhiguo Mao","doi":"10.34067/KID.0000000844","DOIUrl":"10.34067/KID.0000000844","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) has gained increasing emphasis on the long-term outcome of patients taking sustained kidney replacement therapy (KRT). However, the influence of KRT modalities on patients' quality of life and their comparison needs further investigation.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This study included 267 patients: 101 under hemodialysis (HD), 87 under peritoneal dialysis (PD) and 79 received kidney transplantation (KT). HRQOL of patients were evaluated by KDQOL-36 and EQ-5D-3L scales. Inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) was used to balance patients' demographic characteristics.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>KT improved physical activity of patients and reduce effect of kidney disease, as shown by the higher physical composite score (KT: 43.927±8.370 vs HD: 38.101±8.567 vs PD: 37.446±8.626, P<0.001) and effects of kidney disease (KT: 71.917±24.469 vs HD: 57.654±16.722 vs PD: 53.169±17.960, P<0.001), but did not improve mental composite score (MCS), burden of kidney disease (BKD) and symptoms/problems of kidney disease (SPKD). No differences were found between HD and PD. Patients under different KRT modalities had different symptom distribution, but had close overall score in symptom evaluation. SPKD had the strongest association with MCS among all dimensions (r=0.398, 95%CI: 0.274 to 0.509), explaining 15.8% variation in MCS.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>KT recipients had significantly improved overall and physical aspect quality of life, meanwhile they still suffered similar mental problems and multiple discomforts like fatigue and skin problems, just as HD and PD patients. HD and PD patients' quality of life was similar. The impact of comorbidities and the underlying disease leading to end-stage kidney diseases on patients' quality of life should not be neglected.</p>","PeriodicalId":17882,"journal":{"name":"Kidney360","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144336664","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Effects of SGLT2 Inhibitors on Lower eGFR Decline in Non-Diabetic CKD Patients without Proteinuria.","authors":"Masaru Matsui, Takaaki Kosugi, Kosuke Tansho, Shunsuke Kitamura, Masatoshi Nishimoto, Keisuke Okamoto, Masahiro Eriguchi, Ken-Ichi Samejima, Kazuhiko Tsuruya","doi":"10.34067/KID.0000000886","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34067/KID.0000000886","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) have shown promise as renoprotective agents, building on the success of renin-angiotensin system blockers. While SGLT2i have been shown to slow renal deterioration in diabetic and non-diabetic chronic kidney disease (CKD) with proteinuria, it is unclear if similar effects occur in non-diabetic, non-proteinuric CKD.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This study used propensity-score analysis to evaluate the effects of SGLT2i on changes in the annual estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in non-diabetic CKD patients with trivial proteinuria (urinary protein-creatinine ratio (UPCR) < 0.5 g/gCr) who were seen at Nara Prefecture General Medical Center from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2022. The study analyzed 362 non-diabetic CKD patients, including 211 SGLT2i users and 151 non-users, with a median age of 65 (53-73) years, a median eGFR of 45 (35-53) mL/min/1.73m2, and a median UPCR of 0.15 (0.09-0.29) g/gCr.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Adjusted linear mixed-effects models showed that while the eGFR decline over a 3-year period (total) were similar between the two groups, there was a significantly smaller decline between 3 months after baseline and 2-year follow-up (chronic) in SGLT2i users compared with non-users, with a difference of 1.23 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.43-2.02, p=0.002) mL/min/1.73m2/year. After propensity-score matching, SGLT2i users exhibited significantly slower chronic decline than non-users, with a difference of 1.50 (95%CI: 0.63-2.36, p<0.001) mL/min/1.73m2/year. Subgroup analyses confirmed these findings.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study suggests that SGLT2i may slow eGFR decline in non-diabetic CKD patients with trivial proteinuria, supporting the potential use of SGLT2i as renoprotective agents in this population.</p>","PeriodicalId":17882,"journal":{"name":"Kidney360","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144333382","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kidney360Pub Date : 2025-06-19DOI: 10.34067/KID.0000000904
Jielu Hao Robichaud, Humayra Afrin, Vicente E Torres, Navin R Gupta
{"title":"Clinical Management of Tuberous Sclerosis: A Nephrologist's Perspective.","authors":"Jielu Hao Robichaud, Humayra Afrin, Vicente E Torres, Navin R Gupta","doi":"10.34067/KID.0000000904","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34067/KID.0000000904","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a highly variable autosomal dominant disease characterized by dysregulated organ development and growth. Benign tumors, termed hamartomas, may occur across organ systems but typically involve the kidney, brain, skin, heart, and lung. The diagnosis, surveillance, and clinical management of TSC requires a multidisciplinary approach, adopted by dedicated multispecialty centers worldwide. Nephrology involvement predominantly stems from the morbidity and mortality related to the prototypical kidney lesion, angiomyolipomas, whose presence and degree confers risk for chronic kidney disease, hypertension, retroperitoneal bleeding, and possibly renal cell carcinoma. Surveillance of kidney structural lesions, kidney function, and blood pressure may enable early interventions that limit kidney-related morbidity and mortality, such as mTOR inhibitor therapy. Here we review the epidemiology, genetics, and pathogenesis of TSC, and how these inform the evaluation, diagnosis, and clinical management of TSC from the vantage point of the treating nephrologist.</p>","PeriodicalId":17882,"journal":{"name":"Kidney360","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144333381","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kidney360Pub Date : 2025-06-19DOI: 10.34067/KID.0000000862
Touria Mernissi, Stéphane Jaisson, Pierre Spicher, Said Kamel, Anaïs Okwieka, Julien Demagny, Gabriel Choukroun, Solène M Laville, Sandra Bodeau, Sophie Liabeuf
{"title":"Exploring the Interactions between Drugs and Metabolic Disturbances in CKD: An Example with Oral Anticoagulants.","authors":"Touria Mernissi, Stéphane Jaisson, Pierre Spicher, Said Kamel, Anaïs Okwieka, Julien Demagny, Gabriel Choukroun, Solène M Laville, Sandra Bodeau, Sophie Liabeuf","doi":"10.34067/KID.0000000862","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34067/KID.0000000862","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The metabolic disturbances associated with chronic kidney disease might alter drug distribution, decrease albumin drug binding, and thus increase the free (unbound) drug concentrations. Uremic toxins can affect the pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamic activity of certain drugs. Vitamin K antagonists (VKA) are interesting candidates for the evaluation of potential interactions between uremic toxins and drugs. The primary objective of the present study was to investigate the association between free VKA concentrations and the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Furthermore, we sought to determine whether this relationship was mediated by protein carbamylation (measured by homocitrulline levels) and/or the accumulation of protein-bound uremic toxins (PBUTs).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In this prospective cross-sectional study, 389 adult patients treated with VKA were included between May 2021 and June 2023. Levels of free VKAs, total VKAs, homocitrulline and PBUTs were assayed using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. We used a linear regression model to explore the association between kidney function and free VKA levels and mediation analyses to determine whether the association between kidney function and free VKA levels was mediated (at least partly) by PBUTs and/or protein carbamylation.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Patients with an eGFR < 40 mL/min/1.73 m2 or those on chronic hemodialysis had lower total VKA levels, higher free VKA levels and thus a higher of free/total VKA ratio than those with an eGFR ≥ 40 mL/min/1.73 m2. Kidney function was independently associated with free VKA levels (β1=0.31 [0.19; 0.42], p<0.001). Twenty one percent [95%CI, 1%-35%] of the association between kidney function and free VKA levels was mediated by homocitrulline, but not by PBUTs.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our results showed that a low kidney function was associated with an elevation in the free drug fraction. This association was independent of blood albumin levels and appeared to be partly mediated by protein carbamylation.</p>","PeriodicalId":17882,"journal":{"name":"Kidney360","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144333383","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kidney360Pub Date : 2025-06-18DOI: 10.34067/KID.0000000903
Christopher Wilcox, Anand Vaidya, Bertram Pitt
{"title":"Potassium Dysregulation in Patients with CKD: Time to Focus on Low Potassium Intake and Hypokalemia.","authors":"Christopher Wilcox, Anand Vaidya, Bertram Pitt","doi":"10.34067/KID.0000000903","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34067/KID.0000000903","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Hyperkalemia has long been the focus of potassium (K+) dysregulation in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, while the risks of hyperkalemia are well known and clearly important, there is growing evidence that hypokalemia occurs at least as frequently in those with CKD and is associated with an increase in all cause or cardiovascular (CV) mortality as well as a faster progression of renal disease and earlier requirement for kidney replacement therapy (KRT). This is a brief review of low K+ intake and hypokalemia in patients with CKD.</p>","PeriodicalId":17882,"journal":{"name":"Kidney360","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144326179","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Moist Wound Healing and Eutectic Mixture of Local Anesthetics Cream for Clean Buttonhole Cannulation: An Infection Reduction Strategy.","authors":"Kazuhiko Shibata, Shigeki Toma, Shigeru Nakai, Masumi Yamamoto, Koichi Tamura","doi":"10.34067/KID.0000000864","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34067/KID.0000000864","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The buttonhole cannulation technique is recognized for its advantages in hemodialysis, including reduced cannulation errors, decreased pain, and prevention of hematoma formation. However, it has been criticized for possibly increasing the risk of local and systemic infections, including sepsis and death. Prior studies have shown the infection risks associated with the buttonhole technique compared with the rope ladder technique, but the role of scab removal methods at the puncture site has been overlooked. The clean buttonhole method was developed based on softening and removing buttonhole scabs with liquid soap in home hemodialysis, incorporating moist wound-healing treatment, thorough washing, and eutectic mixture of local anesthetics cream to efficiently eliminate scabs.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This observational study included patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis at Toshin Clinic in Yokohama, Japan, from June 2020 to July 2024. Infection rates were documented in both the clean buttonhole and sharp needle groups. Statistical tests were used to compare the incidence of local infections between the groups.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Among 33,137 punctures performed using the clean buttonhole technique, only one localized infection was reported, characterized by mild redness without pain. In contrast, the sharp needle group experienced multiple infections with the rope ladder technique. The local infection rate was 0.030 cases per 1,000 punctures in the clean buttonhole group compared to 0.025 cases per 1,000 punctures in the sharp needle group, with no statistically significant difference observed (p = 0.86).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The clean buttonhole method demonstrates a comparable infection risk profile to traditional sharp needle techniques. These findings indicate that this method may enhance patient safety and comfort in hemodialysis. Further research with larger, multicenter populations is needed to validate these results and assess broader applications in various clinical settings.</p>","PeriodicalId":17882,"journal":{"name":"Kidney360","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144317323","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}