Two studies just released by physicians at Texas Children's Hospital are addressing new findings in patients with pediatric kidney failure, and on the growing prevalence of high blood pressure in children. The findings of both studies were released during a press conference at Renal Week 2005, the 38th annual conference of the American Society of Nephrology.

Dr. Stuart L. Goldstein, medical director of the Renal Dialysis Unit at Texas Children's Hospital, and associate professor of pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, and Dr. Daniel I. Feig, chief of the Pediatric Hypertension Clinic's at Texas Children's and Ben Taub General Hospital, and assistant professor of pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, were two of only five physicians nationwide to have their pediatric projects selected for the conference's pediatric briefing.

Dr. Goldstein's study "Mild Renal Insufficiency is Associated with Poor Outcome in Children with Acute Decompensated Heart Failure: Evidence for a Pediatric Syndrome" stems from a collaboration between the Renal and Cardiology departments. While adults frequently develop acute renal failure (ARF) during episodes of acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF), data has lacked for children. The research done by Dr. Goldstein and his colleagues aimed to determine the incidence and severity of ARF in children with ADHF, and to see if ARF development affects patient outcome.

The study found that very mild degrees of kidney failure was indeed associated with significant risk of poor outcome for children, including longer hospital stays and an increased incidence of in-hospital death. The findings also show that detecting kidney injury early is key to improving the outcome of children with ADHF. "These findings are new for pediatrics, and are really on the cutting edge for all of medicine, as a similar finding was recently found in adult patients," said Dr. Goldstein. The Texas Children's team is one of only two pediatric
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Contact: Misty Cornelius
mgcornel@texaschildrenshospital.org
832-824-2108
Texas Children's Hospital
15-Nov-2005