A 2 year old born 26 weeks premature presents to you in the neonatal follow-up clinic. Among the usual ventilatory requirements at birth, he also had a persistent patent ductus arteriosus which was treated with loop diuretics for 4 weeks. As a result, he developed nephrocalcinosis. His mother is asking you what the long-term implications are for her child’s kidney function.

Structured clinical question

In preterm babies with nephrocalcinosis (patients) does nephrocalcinosis or renal calcification (intervention) cause renal dysfunction, hypertension or persistent renal ultrasound scan abnormalities (outcome)?

Search strategy and outcome

Secondary sources

Cochrane Library, Best Evidence, Clinical Evidence: no relevant articles found.

Primary sources

Online search performed on 16 June 2008 using National Library for Health (www.library.nhs.uk) in AMED, BNI, EMBASE, HMIC, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and CINAHL with no limits, using the following terms:

1. nephrocalcinosis.ti,ab

2. (renal AND calcinosis).ti,ab

3. (renal AND dysfunction).ti,ab

4. hypertension.ti,ab

5. proteinuria.ti,ab

6. 1 OR 2

7. 3 OR 4 OR 5

8. 6 AND 7

Three hundred and thirty-nine results were obtained and independently assessed by the two authors, seven of which were relevant.1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Commentary

Nephrocalcinosis …