Tehran University Medical Journal

Background: Infant mortality is important as a standard indicator for the development of health, educational and social health systems in each country. Considering the fact that in different studies of the country there are different statistics on the prevalence of infant mortality in the intensive care unit and the general statistics on the prevalence of mortality in neonates in the country are unclear and unclear, the aim of this study was systematic review and meta-analysis for determine the prevalence of mortality in infants admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of hospitals in Iran.
Methods: A meta-analysis was performed for relevant articles in scientific databases including scientific information database (SID) and Magiran, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Medline (PubMed) and Google Scholar. Entrance criteria included cross-sectional studies between March 2000 to September 2018. The search process in these databases was performed using keywords: Neonatal, Intensive Care Unit, Mortality, and Iran. Non-relevant articles included review articles, interventions, cohorts and case-control studies, excluded from the study list. Heterogeneity of study was checked using I2 index and the possibility of publication bias by funnel plot and Egger test. Data were analyzed using the comprehensive meta-analysis software, version 3 (Biostat, Englewood, NJ, USA).
Results: The overall prevalence of infant mortality in ICU hospitals was 21.8% (95% CI 14.4-31.6%), the highest prevalence of infant mortality in Isfahan was 64.4% percentage (95% CI 57.5-70.9%) and the lowest mortality rate in babies in Babol's intensive care unit with 5.1% (95% CI 3.8-6.7%). The results of the study showed that the prevalence of infant mortality was significantly reduced with increasing sample size (P<0.05). Also, with an increase in years of research, the frequency of infant mortality in the intensive care unit increases, which is also statistically significant respectively (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Considering the high prevalence of infant mortality in ICU hospitals in Iran, health policy makers need to take effective measures to raise awareness of parents as well as effective measures to reduce infant mortality.

Background: Emergence from general anesthesia and removing of tracheal tube can be associated with coughing, agitation, and hemodynamic disturbances. Dexmedetomidine is an alpha two adrenoceptor agonist that has effective sedation with less cardiovascular unstability and respiratory depression and may be useful for extubation and prevention of hemodynamic response during tracheal tube removing. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of dexmedetomidine on hemodynamic responses during endotracheal extubation and sedation level in recovery room.
Methods: In an analytical study, fifty women aged 20-50 years old candidate to cholecystectomy under general anesthesia and tracheal intubation were entered randomly to this study in two groups (no. 25) at Imam Khomeini Hospital, Urmia, Iran, and under support of Urmia University of Medical Sciences Urmia, Iran, from May 2017 to May 2018. Ten minutes before end of surgery, 0.8 µg/kg dexmedetomidine in the study group and for the other patients in control group normal saline as placebo were infused over ten minutes. During the emergence phase, blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen saturation were recorded at 0,1,2,3 and 5 minutes after extubation. Also, sedation index was evaluated via the Ramsay sedation score and recorded at recovery room.
Results: Heart rate, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure in patient with infusion of dexmedetomidine were lower significantly at 1,2,3 and 5 minutes after extubation than control group. Data for heart rate, systolic and diastolic pressure, at min 1 after extubation were 81±6 vs. 88±9, 120.64±13.21 vs. 137.52±11.06, 72.84±8.32 vs. 81.36±9.26 in dexmedetomidine and control groups respectively. Data for heart rate, systolic and diastolic pressure, at min 5 after extubation were 73±6 vs. 80±8, 110.64±10.68 vs. 119.88±10.01, 69.84±8.32 vs. 73.48±5.13 in study and control groups, respectively. As well as 80% of the patients in dexmedetomidine group had satisfactory sedation and cooperation in compare to the 28% in control group (P=0.001).
Conclusion: Intravenous infusion of 0.8 µg/kg dexmedetomidine 10 minutes before extubation of endotracheal tube and during emergence, facilitate extubation and lead to hemodynamic stability and satisfactory sedation.

Background: Congenital heart diseases are the second group of congenital anomalies in infants. These disorders are a major cause of death in the first year of a child's life. Early detection helps to treat these diseases better. In this study cardiology consultations of hospitalized infants in the neonatal intensive care unit were evaluated.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, two hundred and fifty pediatric cardiology consultations conducted in Shahid Beheshti Hospital in the year 2012 were reviewed. Information such as the cause of consulting, delivery type, age of parents, relative couples, family history of congenital heart disease, maternal medications, maternal background diseases, the final diagnosis, and prognosis follow-up of the patients were recorded in a designed questionnaire. Finally, the data were entered into the SPSS software, version 16 (IBM SPSS, Armonk, NY, USA) and analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square test. P-value of less than 0.05 was considered significant.
Results: The mean age of the consulted neonates was 4.845±5.14 days with a gestational age of 33.933±3.65 weeks. Male sex and cesarean section were the most frequent. Fifty-six percent of consulted infants were male. The present study revealed that prematurity (76%), murmurs (30.8%), respiratory distress syndrome (14.4%) and cyanosis (13.2%) were the most common causes of the cardiac consultation seeking among infants. Seventy-six percent of infants were consulted due to prematurity. Eighty-four percent of infants had a normal conditions. Septal defects (ventricular or atrial septal defect) and patent ductus arteriosus were the most common disease diagnosed with the prevalence of 27.5 and 17.5%, respectively. There was a significant relationship between preterm labor and congenital heart disease (P<0.001). Additionally, prematurity associated with respiratory distress syndrome and using assisted reproductive techniques.
Conclusion: The higher prevalence of congenital heart disease in the present study, compared with other studies, reflects the fact that cardiology consultation based on clinical suspicion leads to the more identification of congenital heart disease that means the right referral of newborns for consultation was accompanied with a higher incidence of heart failure.

Background: Health care associated infections (HAIs) are a class of infections that infect patients during hospital admissions and receive medical services. These infections occurs within 48 to 72 hours of admission and up to 6 weeks after discharge. Surveillance of device-associated infections (DAIs) in intensive care units (ICUs) is substantial in planning healthcare strategies. This study was conducted to determine the device-associated infections' burden and antimicrobial resistance patterns.
Methods: In this descriptive-analytic study, three common device-associated infections included central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLA-BSI), ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP), and catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CA-UTI), were assessed in intensive care units of Besat Hospital in Hamedan from April 2017 to April 2018. In order to determine the incidence of device-associated infections, the number of device-associated infection cases was calculated during the study period and divided into the number of device-days used. The device-days included all days of exposure to that device (vascular catheter, endotracheal tube (ventilator), or urinary catheter) in all patients in the study population.
Results: Out of 1806 intensive care unit admitted cases, 168 patients (9.3%) were device-associated infection with distribution of 92 cases (55%) of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), 56 cases (34%) of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CA-UTI) and 20 cases (11%) of central line-associated bloodstream infection (CL-BSI). The incidence of VAP, CA-UTI and CL-BSI was 44.7, 17.5, and 21.61 days, respectively. The most organisms were Acinetobacter (27.4%), Klebsiella (18.3%), Escherichia coli (E. coli) (15.4%). Vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (VRE) was 75%. Acinetobacter resistance to colistin and carbapenem was 16.8%. About half of Pseudomonas isolates were resistant to meropenem.
Conclusion: According to the present findings of this study, a high incidence of device-associated infections and resistant organisms in our intensive care units were documented, which represents a need to reinforce the preventive and control programs. Various results in different studies can be due to differences in the level of health care in different centers and countries.

Background: Resistant hypertension is defined when the blood pressure remains elevated above the therapeutic target levels despite the use of three antihypertensive agents including calcium channel blocker (CCB), renin-angiotensin system (RAS) blocker and a diuretic. These drugs should be used at maximally tolerated doses and white coat effect and non-adherence should also be excluded. In this article, by describing a case of resistant hypertension, we discuss a diagnostic and therapeutic approach to resistant hypertension.
Case Presentation: A 59 years old man, known case of diabetic nephropathy with a serum creatinine level of 1.2 mg/dL and proteinuria of about 3300 mg in 24 hours referred to Hypertension Clinic of Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, for evaluation of resistant hypertension. The patient was under treatment by losar-H, diltiazem, and furosemide, which are not appropriate combinations of antihypertensive agents. The ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) of the patient revealed daytime and nighttime hypertension and also the non-dipping status of blood pressure. Dihydropyridine CCB was prescribed in combination with RAS blocker (Exforge 50 mg/ 160 mg) and the diuretic was changed to thiazide-like agents. In the next step, spironolactone and carvedilol were added for better control of blood pressure. The patient referred to the sleep clinic for polysomnography and evaluation of obstructive sleep apnea. Following three months prescription of these medications, ABPM revealed relatively appropriate control of blood pressure, so the average 24-hour blood pressure decreased from 157/91 mm Hg to 136/83 mm Hg.
Conclusion: The complications and mortality of hypertension would be increased dramatically in patients with resistant hypertension. So, an appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic approaches should be considered for these patients. Choosing appropriate diuretic agents would be important in the management of resistant hypertension.

Background: Hypertension induces cardiac hypertrophy. Oxidative stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis of hypertension induced cardiac hypertrophy. Exercise and Quercetin (as activators of Sirtuins) reduce oxidative stress. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) with Quercetin supplement on oxidative stress and level of concentric pathologic hypertrophy in patients with hypertension and coronary heart disease after angioplasty.
Methods: The present study was conducted experimentally randomized, placebo-controlled and double‑blind on 24 men with hypertension and coronary heart disease after angioplasty aged 40-60 since years May to August 2019 at the Exercise Physiology department of Sport Sciences Faculty, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, Tehran, Iran. The subjects were randomly divided into two groups of HIIT+quercetin (n=12) and HIIT+placebo (n=12) and were followed during 8 weeks of high-intensity interval training (30 seconds of activity and 30 seconds of rest) and quercetin consumption (250 mgr of quercetin supplement or placebo pills daily). Echocardiography was used to investigate morphological factors such as posterior wall dimension (PWd) and left ventricular end diastolic diameter (LVEDd). Plasma total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were measured by colorimetric method.

Background: Intravenous (IV) injection of drugs is one of the most common methods of drug prescription in hospitals, which is a complex, potentially hazardous and erroneous method; accordingly, it requires control methods to reduce the potential risks. This study focused on determining the frequency and types of different medication errors while preparing and administering mostly used IV drugs in three intensive care units (ICU) and one general department in AL-Zahra hospital, Isfahan, Iran.
Methods: This cross-sectional observational study was conducted for 6 months from September 2017 to March 2018. To determine the frequency of different medication errors, a quoting sampling method was applied to select and observe 400 cases of IV drug administrations. All nurses from any studied department were included in this study. Different stages of preparation and administration of the observed drugs were compared to an instructed checklist prepared by the clinical pharmacist.

Background: Opioid poisoning is the most common type of poisoning in intensive care units (ICUs). This group usually includes patients who have been drug abusers for a long time and now require hospitalization either because of acute overdose or due to side effects of routine opioid use. This study aimed to compare the severity and prognosis of patients using common mortality predictors Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA), Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II), Acute Physiology And Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE II, APACHE IV) on different days of hospitalization.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on all patients with opioid poisoning admitted to the ICU, Imam Reza Hospital, Mashhad, Iran, from the beginning of April 2016 to March 2017 (Persian Calendar). For all poisoned patients enrolled in the study, the four mortality predicting tools were filled daily in the first three days of hospitalization and then every other day until discharge from the ICU or patient's death.

In 2019 a newly emerged coronavirus was detected by the Center for disease control (CDC) in China. Nucleic acid sequencing from nose and throat swab samples of patients revealed that it was like severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV). World Health Organization (WHO) named it coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and reported more than 100000 positive tests until March 2020 for COVID-19. During the past 20 years, the world has been affected by three coronavirus epidemics, SARS-COV, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), and COVID-19 that make world attention. The mortality rate of COVID-19 was more than other coronaviruses, but because of more people affected by it, it seems that it has a less fatality rate compared with MERS- CoV. Initial data showed that more than 80% of patients did not have any symptoms or may had light symptoms. 15% showed severe pneumonia, 5% became critically ill, and developed multiorgan dysfunction and septic shock. Due to the epidemic of emerging viruses and the lack of information about it, this study aimed to provide a quick overview of the most recent studies in the world. To perform this review, keywords such as COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, and Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 were retrieved using the medical subject headings (MeSH) system and then searched in English in PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, and Web of Science databases.
COVID-19 virus enters its genome into the cells by binding to Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 in some organs such as the lungs. Although the transmission route is unclear, it enters the body through respiratory droplets. The clinical symptoms includ fever, cough, dyspnea, myalgia, confusion, headache, sore throat, rhinorrhea, chest pain, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, malaise, and convulsion. The standard diagnostic method is Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), but due to the time-consuming and sensitivity and the existing errors in this technique, chest CT and hematologic data are preferred. No definitive cure for the virus has been suggested so far, but antiviral drugs such as Oseltamivir, Ganciclovir, Lopinavir, Ritonavir and Remdesivir, and the anti-malarial drug Chloroquine phosphate and Interferon are in use until the discovery of the vaccine.

Background: Because deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is one of the most common problems in the intensive care unit, it may lead to complecating the patient's general condition. This study aimed to investigate the predictive factors of DVT in patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of Amin hospital in Isfahan.
Methods: In this retrospective study, all the records of patients admitted to the ICU ward of Amin Hospital located in Esfahan, from April 2015 to March 2018, were investigated and from all patients with DVT, 20 records were extracted and 40 cases of patients without DVT were also randomly selected. Information such as age, sex, Wells score, Apache score, nutritional status, clinical parameters, cause of hospitalization, length of stay, ICU induced disease and treatment were extracted from these records and compared between both groups with and without DVT.

Conclusion: In the general intensive care unit, the incidence of deep vein thrombosis was higher in internal ward patients. Pneumonia was the most common disease associated with deep vein thrombosis and the risk of deep vein thrombosis was higher in the anemic patient. Patients with upper limited normal levels of potassium were less likely to develop deep vein thrombosis. It seems that potassium in the upper limit of normal reference can play a protective role against deep vein thrombosis. Further studies with larger sample sizes are suggested.

Background: Early outcome prediction of hospitalized patients is critical because the intensivists are constantly striving to improve patients' survival by taking effective medical decisions about ill patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs). Despite rapid progress in medical treatments and intensive care technology, the analysis of outcomes, including mortality prediction, has been a challenge in ICUs. Hence, this study aims to predict the mortality of patients admitted to ICUs using data mining techniques.
Methods: In this study, among the cases of patients who were admitted to ICUs of the Rasoul Akram and Firoozgar hospitals of Tehran City, Iran, from December 2017 to March 2018, the first 24 hours of the ICUs admission data of 874 cases were gathered. A new model based on the standard methodology CRISP was developed. In the modeling section, two well-known data mining techniques called artificial neural network (ANN), K nearest neighbor (KNN) and decision tree (DT) were used. WEKA 3.9.2 open-source software was implemented for data analysis. Finally, according to the accuracy, sensitivity, specificity criteria and AUC-ROC Curve, the superior model was introduced.
Results: Based on the WEKA results, 19 variables had the most impact on the mortality prediction of patients admitted to ICUs including Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), mechanical ventilation, surgical service at ICUs admission, gender, temperature, serum creatinine, diabetes, Blood urea nitrogen (BUN), age, addiction, International Normalized Ratio (INR), PH, Partial Thromboplastin Time (PTT), albumin, hemoglobin, glucose, pulse rate, hematocrit (HCT), PO2.  Based on the created models, some rules have been extracted which can be used as a pattern to predict the probability of mortality. Although the AUC of the three models was acceptable (KNN 81.5%, ANN 77.5% and DT 74.3%), but the accuracy of decision tree J48 (74.2%) was higher.

Background: Cholangiocarcinoma is a cancer of the bile duct epithelium that originates from the bile ducts inside or outside the liver. Although this tumor is not common, its mortality rate is high. This tumor accounts for about 3% of all gastrointestinal malignancies. Many patients are being detected when the disease has spread. Evaluating risk factors affecting the incidence of cholangiocarcinoma is very important to avoid exposure to them. Therefore, this study was performed to evaluate the risk factors for cholangiocarcinoma in a population in Iran.
Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. It was performed on 276 patients with cholangiocarcinoma who had been referred to Firoozgar Hospital affiliated with the Iran University of Medical Sciences in Tehran from March 2020 to February 2021. Demographic information, family and personal history, social history (tobacco or drug use) and blood group of patients were extracted from their files. SPSS version 16 was used for data analysis. A P-value below 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Background: The patient's position during the recovery time after arthroplasty surgery can be a factor in reducing complications and improving patients’ condition. Therefore, this study was performed to compare the knee range of motion after soft tissue repair in both flexion and extension positions of total knee arthroplasty.
Methods: This study is a double-blind clinical trial. The study population was all candidates for total knee arthroplasty surgery in Al-Zahra and Kashani hospitals in Isfahan from July 2011 to September 2012. The sample size was selected using the statistical formula of 88 patients and randomly divided into two groups of flexion and extension. In the first group during the knee soft tissue repair, the knee was in flexion and in the second group it was in extension and then it was repaired. Information such as age, sex, body mass index and surgical position were recorded in the checklist. The knee range of motion was measured at the end of the first, second, fourth, eighth and twelfth weeks and recorded in a checklist. In order to compare the pattern of changes in mean knee range of motion over time in the two groups, mixed linear models and conventional marginal models to generalized estimator equations were used by STATA software.

Background: Psoriasis is a chronic and recurrent inflammatory disease that involves skin, joints and different organ systems. It is associated with Multiple morbidities such as cardiovascular disorders, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and chronic kidney disease (CKD). Due to the high importance of the association between psoriasis and CKD which results in major side effects the aim of this study was to evaluation of CKD and associated factors in Psoriasis patients at Razi Hospital, Tehran, Iran.
Methods: This retrospective study was conducted as a cross-sectional descriptive and analytical study to evaluate the frequency of CKD and associated factors in psoriatic patients admitted to the Razi Hospital whose last time of admission was from June 2018 to January 2019. According to the K/DOQI guideline, CKD is defined as the GFR<60 mL/min/1.73 m² during at least a period of three months. GFR was calculated based on the MDRD formula. The sample size was equal to 265. The hospital documents of inpatients who have been admitted to Razi Hospital wards or follow-up clinics during 2017-2019 were used for collecting information and data. This information has been extracted based on the initial checklist for data collection. Collected data has been analyzed and performed by using SPSS 25 software.
Results: The study found that 18 (6.8%) of psoriasis patients had CKD. Patients were in the age range of 3.5-92 years, the majority of them were in the age range of 18.65–79.7 years. 171 (64.5%) patients were male and 94 (35.5%) were female. 41 (15.5%) patients had diabetes, 94 (35.5%) had hyperlipidemia and 41 (15.5%) had hypertension. History of NSAID, Methotrexate, Cyclosporine, Acitretin, Infliximab, and Adalimumab medication use among 9 (3.4%), 205 (77.4%), 56 (21.1%), 147 (55.5%), 30 (11.3%), and 28 (10.6%) patients were observed, respectively. Also, 54 (20.4%) had a history of phototherapy. 217 (81.9%) of the psoriatic patients had CPP (Chronic Plaque Psoriasis) and 48 (18.1%) had PP (pustular Psoriasis) and finally, 21 (7.9%) of the patients had psoriatic arthritis.

Conclusion: The prevalence of CKD was shown to increase by age. The other correlated factors are diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. On the other hand, there was not found any significant correlation between drugs (NSAIDs, Methotrexate, Cyclosporine, Acitretin, Infliximab, Adalimumab) and CKD prevalence. There was also no significant correlation between phototherapy, psoriasis type and psoriatic arthritis, duration of psoriasis and CKD prevalence.

Results: The mean age was 52.1±14.1, and there was no difference between the two groups. Demographic characteristics, including sex, body mass index, duration of surgery, kind of intubation, and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II score, were not significantly different. The length of stay in the intensive care unit in the dexamethasone group was significantly longer than the control group (104 vs. 79-hour, P=0.001, CI 95%: 10.995-40.878). The rate of failure in extubation and postoperative stridor was not significantly different between the two groups (P=0.237). Conclusion: Dexamethasone usage seems not to be effective in reducing airway edema, and its routine use is not recommended in reducing stridor after endotracheal tube removal.

 

Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, the measuring of optic nerve sheath diameter in patients suspected of increasing the pressure of idiopathic intracranial hypertension can be helpful as a non–invasive diagnosis method.

Background: Coronavirus in 2019 was recognized as one of the leading causes of death worldwide. According to reports, the mortality rate in people who need mechanical ventilation varies from 50 to 97 percent. The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcome of Covid-19 disease based on different characteristics in patients and mechanically ventilated variables.
Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 160 patients with a definite diagnosis of Covid-19 who were under mechanical ventilation and admitted to the intensive care unit of Alzahra Hospital in Isfahan from March 2020 to March 2021. Data was collected by checklist. The checklist included demographic information, including age, gender, as well as information such as underlying diseases, disease outcome, length of hospitalization, etc. After collecting the data, they were analyzed in SPSS software version 22 and at a significance level of less than 0.05.

Results: In this study, the overall mortality rate among mechanically ventilated patients was 62.5%. The mean age of patients was 69.99±17.87 years and the mean duration of hospitalization in surviving patients was 15.47±11.73 days and for deceased ones was 55.21±69.14 days. The mean age of the deceased group (65.71±16.59) was significantly higher than the surviving group 53±21.17 was (P=0.0001). The length of hospital stay in the deceased group was significantly longer than the surviving group (P=0.005). As a result, ventilator mode and inotropic agent intake during treatment increased the chance of mortality in patients under mechanical ventilation (P=0.001). There was a significant relationship between underlying diseases of hypertension, kidney disease and autoimmune disease with mortality in patients (P<0.05). Conclusion: Various factors including the length of stay in the hospital, comorbidities such as hypertension, renal disease and autoimmunity may affect the outcome of critically ill ICU patients under mechanical ventilation. Patients who require long-term invasive ventilation and the use of inotropic drugs to maintain their cardiovascular status while hospitalized in the ICU are at higher risk for mortality.

Background: Hypertension is an important and controllable risk factor for heart diseases, stroke, renal failure and peripheral vascular disease. The aim of this study was to determine the level of awareness of patients with hemorrhagic stroke to control blood pressure and to provide solutions to improve patients’ awareness.
Methods: This study is a descriptive cross-sectional study that was conducted to evaluate the knowledge of patients with hemorrhagic stroke about the use of antihypertensives. The study population consists of all patients with hemorrhagic stroke, who were admitted to the intensive care unit of Imam Hossein Hospital in Tehran from September 2020 to March 2021. Data related to blood pressure awareness and drug history was completed by the researcher through the method of direct contact with the patients or their relatives. In this study, 17 patients diagnosed with hemorrhagic stroke due to hypertension who were admitted to the intensive care unit of Imam Hossein Hospital in Tehran, were included. The extent of the exact treatment adherence was assessed using the Morisky questionnaire.

Results: In this study, the median of patients age was 67 and 10 (58.82%) of them were women. The median systolic and diastolic blood pressures were 170 and 95 mmHg on admission. 4(23.53%) subjects were not aware of the disease. Out of 13 people who were aware of their hypertension, 11(64.71%) were under the supervision of a physician. However, 7(63.64%) of the subjects, despite being under the supervision of a physician and acceptable drug adherence, did not have controlled blood pressure and expired. Conclusion: This study is a warning for patients and health care providers to pay more attention to blood pressure control. Furthermore, educating the community as well as medical staff about the importance of timely diagnosis and accurate treatment of hypertension is highly recommended.

Background: Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) transplantation is a promising therapy for kidney repair. This study compared the regenerative effects of feline MSCs (fMSCs) and telmisartan, a renin-angiotensin blocker (RAB), in a feline model of chronic kidney disease (CKD).
Methods: The fMSCs were obtained from 35 Persian cats with CKD and characterized by CD44, CD90, and CD105 markers by using real-time RT-qPCR. The cats were randomly allocated to four groups, fMSCs injection (first group), telmisartan administration (second group), no treatment (third group), and healthy controls (fourth group). The study was conducted in Kerman province from December 2018 to December 2019. The factors that may affect the risk of CKD, such as age, weight, and history of kidney diseases, were considered as independent variables. The presence or absence of CKD was the dependent variable. The cats were followed up for 120 days and evaluated by physical examination, glomerular filtration rate (GFR), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), serum creatinine (SCr), serum urea, alanine transaminase (ALT), urine specific gravity (SG), and kidney histopathology. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software (version 20) with two-way ANOVA and Tukey test. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: The fMSCs group showed significant improvement in GFR, BUN, SCr, serum urea, SG, and kidney histology compared to the other groups. The fMSCs group also showed increased expression of CD44, CD90, and CD105 genes in the kidney tissue, indicating enhanced stem cell activity. The telmisartan group showed modest improvement in blood pressure and proteinuria, but no significant effect on other parameters. fMSCs transplantation can restore the kidney function and structure in cats with CKD by modulating the apoptosis and proliferation of renal cells. The telmisartan  patients benefited from the anti-hypertensive and anti-proteinuric effects of the drug, but not from its anti-fibrotic or anti-inflammatory effects. Conclusion: fMSCs transplantation was more effective than telmisartan in improving kidney function and reducing kidney damage in cats with CKD. fMSCs may be a potential therapeutic option for CKD patients.