“Should I give them more fluid?”

Extremely common question during AKI referrals from junior docs.

⛔️ Fluid management is tricky, often misunderstood, & can cause huge iatrogenic harm ⛔️

We try to convey important principles in THREAD 👇

#tipsfornewdocs #medtwitter #tweetorial

Currently too often patients with high creatinine are given too much IV fluid, driven by an AKI ➡️ fluid reflex

We’ve seen 7 litres be given in one shift.

Medics & surgeons, juniors & seniors, it seems everyone loves to reach for extra IV fluid (especially if urine output poor)
Why does huge volume IV fluid ‘resuscitation’ consistently occur?

Lots of reasons, including FALSE beliefs:
🛑 IV fluid always “treats AKI”
🛑 Hypotension = hypovolaemia
🛑 Lactate >2 means fluid deficiency
🛑 Septic patients are very hypovolaemic
The rule with IV fluids and AKI is to remember this 5 word phrase:

💥 💥 Aim for euvolaemia, then stop💥 💥

Fluid status is like Goldilocks - hypovolaemia is bad for the kidneys BUT excess volume is also harmful for renal function and will cause other complications too.
It is easy to say “target euvolaemia” - but we agree it is more difficult to do!

Fluid status assessment is certainly made harder by a belief that we must only rely on a snapshot assessment of examination features which are NOT specific / sensitive / reliable to elicit like.…
🔹 Cool peripheries
🔹 Bibasal crackles - highly nonspecific in older patients!
🔹 Dry skin
🔹Tachycardia
🔹 x and y descent of the JVP wave…..

Even postural BP drop, one of the better performing signs for hypovolaemia, still has a wide differential diagnosis.
Serial physical examinations by one clinician improves assessment, but this is challenging given shift patterns.

And unfortunately the blood tests can be misleading too - for example check out our previous post about other causes of raised urea 👇 https://t.co/CSiRRnMi1a
TIP - things get better when the adage of ‘history trumps examination’ is observed:

1️⃣ Has there been volume loss?
2️⃣ Has there been decreased intake?

If the answer is “not really” to both of these, then think carefully about what you think more fluid will accomplish.
So….

When phoned as renal reg on-call on day 2-3 we’re usually not thinking “easy hypovolaemic AKI” but are concerned something is being missed.

Three common things:

1. AKI is part of sepsis / hypotension / MOF badness: patient needs ICU & vasopressors, not more IV fluid
2. AKI is intrinsic or post-renal: patient needs a diagnosis (think urinalysis, ultrasound, discussion), not more IV fluid

3. AKI is an additional signal that palliative care may be appropriate (remember stage 3 AKI has terrible 42% mortality at 30 days in patients >75 years)
Pre-renal AKI purely due to hypovolaemia generally improves fast.

If the patient has a great story for hypovolaemia but their creatinine is rising/stuck, then they often have a degree of acute tubular necrosis (ATN).

Let us show you something (it’s not as boring as it appears!)
On left is ATN with gaping spaces in tubules, & on right is healthy kidney with nice plump tubules.

Appreciate that there is actual histological change - this needs TIME to recover

✳️ Just as injured cells in stroke or MI don’t magically heal with IV saline, neither does ATN ✳️
✅ Sometimes you’ll get a patient with ATN to euvolaemia & they still won’t pee. That’s OK - not an indication for more fluids

✅ Remember low urine output is a warning you have less margin for error before causing hypervolaemia - again, shake off the reflex just to ⬆️fluid rate
“Are there exceptions?”

Not really - there’s different risk:benefit in different scenarios
👉 in tumour lysis, myeloma or rhabdo for example we do try to target higher urine outputs

BUT when patient is well-filled & not peeing much, we’re re-thinking rather than ploughing on.
“But does volume overload even matter?”

YES - and it’s not just the obvious pulmonary oedema badness.

Excess fluid ➡️ high venous pressure ➡️ decreased perfusion pressure for heart, brain, liver (& kidneys!!)

Patients with excess volume have:
🛑 longer AKI
🛑 higher mortality
In hypovolaemic AKI aim to stop fluids before complications develop - you do not need to “swell to get well”.

Avoidable dialysis for ⬆️volume continues because of myth that the hugely complex pathophysiology of AKI is easily remedied by IV salty water (pic from Ostermann et al)
So apologies for the rant. But we hope we have made you think about why:

🛑 “I can’t give fluid for their AKI because they are already overloaded” makes no sense 🛑

And why:

🛑 “I’ll keep giving IV fluids until their oxygen sats drop” is just bonkers 🛑
Take home points:

✅ Prescribe IV fluid with the care you would warfarin
✅ Achieve euvolaemia, then sit on your hands
✅ If urine output or BP stays low think “Is a different approach needed here?” rather than autoreaching for more IV fluid
✅ Break your AKI ➡️ fluid reflex
As ever all comments/disagreements very welcome - it’s a tricky topic to teach & not done really at med school, so we at @BukuRenal (@jamiekwillows this time) appreciate any feedback.

Would love to hear views on how you approach teaching ward junior docs @NephroGuy @icmteaching

More from Health

1/
Remember woman who tuk multiple @SriSriTattva products 4 range of problems frm diabetes 2 gas 2 liver disease & developed liver failure, listed for liver transplant?
Here is original thread:
https://t.co/PXxI1Slyv2
23 samples, Analysis results
#MedTwitter #livertwitter


2/
Before I go into results, I must say this was overwhelming. There was SO MUCH the lab identified, impossible to put everything here. So I made a summary. At the end of this thread, I have linked a full analysis described in Excel format. Some results were VERY concerning

3/
How did we analyse?
Here R links 2 methods
They R high end, done under strict protocols
Frm Ministry of Forest, Environment, Climate / NABL approvd Lab
ICP-OES https://t.co/O1CLhqVQAu
GC MSMS https://t.co/zRJoXyWQIr
FTIR https://t.co/goAembQ08p
Here is list V analysed 👇


4/
Sample names written on top (each column).
First 5 samples: C what we identified in #Ayurveda #medicines
Antibiotics
Steroids (anabolic/synthetic)
#NARCOTICS - LSD, Morphine
Blood thinners (possible reason Y bleeding tests were off the roof in the patient)
Heavy metals!


5/
Next 5 samples (total 10 now)
Mercury is clear winner. Almost all samples
See controlled substances - Butyrolactones https://t.co/CPz0FwPEOm, methylamine https://t.co/OZnXY7U9UQ
Alcohols, industrial solvents
Rare metals - cobalt, lithium
Again lots of blood thinners
#Ayush
I applaud the #EUCancerPlan *BUT* caution: putting #meat 🥩 (a nourishing, evolutionary food) in the same box as 🚬 to solve a contemporary health challenge, would be basing policy on assumptions rather than robust data.

#FollowTheScience yes, but not just part of it!
THREAD👇


1/ Granted, some studies have pointed to ASSOCIATIONS of HIGH intake of red & processed meats with (slightly!) increased colorectal cancer incidence. Also, @WHO/IARC is often mentioned in support (usually hyperbolically so).

But, let’s have a closer look at all this! 🔍


2/ First, meat being “associated” with cancer is very different from stating that meat CAUSES cancer.

Unwarranted use of causal language is widespread in nutritional sciences, posing a systemic problem & undermining credibility.

3/ That’s because observational data are CONFOUNDED (even after statistical adjustment).

Healthy user bias is a major problem. Healthy middle classes are TOLD to eat less red meat (due to historical rather than rational reasons, cf link). So, they

4/ What’s captured here is sociology, not physiology.

Health-focused Westerners eat less red meat, whereas those who don’t adhere to dietary advice tend to have unhealthier lifestyles.

That tells us very little about meat AS SUCH being responsible for disease.

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#தினம்_ஒரு_திருவாசகம்
தொல்லை இரும்பிறவிச் சூழும் தளை நீக்கி
அல்லல் அறுத்து ஆனந்தம் ஆக்கியதே – எல்லை
மருவா நெறியளிக்கும் வாதவூர் எங்கோன்
திருவாசகம் என்னும் தேன்

பொருள்:
1.எப்போது ஆரம்பித்தது என அறியப்படமுடியாத தொலை காலமாக (தொல்லை)

2. இருந்து வரும் (இரும்)


3.பிறவிப் பயணத்திலே ஆழ்த்துகின்ற (பிறவி சூழும்)

4.அறியாமையாகிய இடரை (தளை)

5.அகற்றி (நீக்கி),

6.அதன் விளைவால் சுகதுக்கமெனும் துயரங்கள் விலக (அல்லல் அறுத்து),

7.முழுநிறைவாய்த் தன்னுளே இறைவனை உணர்த்துவதே (ஆனந்த மாக்கியதே),

8.பிறந்து இறக்கும் காலவெளிகளில் (எல்லை)

9.பிணைக்காமல் (மருவா)

10.காக்கும் மெய்யறிவினைத் தருகின்ற (நெறியளிக்கும்),

11.என் தலைவனான மாணிக்க வாசகரின் (வாதவூரெங்கோன்)

12.திருவாசகம் எனும் தேன் (திருவா சகமென்னுந் தேன்)

முதல்வரி: பிறவி என்பது முன்வினை விதையால் முளைப்பதோர் பெருமரம். அந்த ‘முன்வினை’ எங்கு ஆரம்பித்தது எனச் சொல்ல இயலாது. ஆனால் ‘அறியாமை’ ஒன்றே ஆசைக்கும்,, அச்சத்துக்கும் காரணம் என்பதால், அவையே வினைகளை விளைவிப்பன என்பதால், தொடர்ந்து வரும் பிறவிகளுக்கு, ‘அறியாமையே’ காரணம்

அறியாமைக்கு ஆரம்பம் கிடையாது. நமக்கு ஒரு பொருளைப் பற்றிய அறிவு எப்போதிருந்து இல்லை? அதைச் சொல்ல முடியாது. அதனாலேதான் முதலடியில், ஆரம்பமில்லாத அஞ்ஞானத்தை பிறவிகளுக்குக் காரணமாகச் சொல்லியது. ஆனால் அறியாமை, அறிவின் எழுச்சியால், அப்போதே முடிந்து விடும்.
1/“What would need to be true for you to….X”

Why is this the most powerful question you can ask when attempting to reach an agreement with another human being or organization?

A thread, co-written by @deanmbrody:


2/ First, “X” could be lots of things. Examples: What would need to be true for you to

- “Feel it's in our best interest for me to be CMO"
- “Feel that we’re in a good place as a company”
- “Feel that we’re on the same page”
- “Feel that we both got what we wanted from this deal

3/ Normally, we aren’t that direct. Example from startup/VC land:

Founders leave VC meetings thinking that every VC will invest, but they rarely do.

Worse over, the founders don’t know what they need to do in order to be fundable.

4/ So why should you ask the magic Q?

To get clarity.

You want to know where you stand, and what it takes to get what you want in a way that also gets them what they want.

It also holds them (mentally) accountable once the thing they need becomes true.

5/ Staying in the context of soliciting investors, the question is “what would need to be true for you to want to invest (or partner with us on this journey, etc)?”

Multiple responses to this question are likely to deliver a positive result.