LAKEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Renal Ventures Management, LLC (RVM), a leading provider of dialysis services for patients suffering from chronic kidney failure, has been named the #23 Best Place to work in New Jersey by NJBIZ weekly business journal in the Large Company category. RVM is the third largest provider of dialysis services in the state.

RVM is one of only 100 New Jersey companies selected from thousands as a top place of employment. The awards honored New Jersey companies that benefit the state’s workforce and show a sincere dedication to their employees’ personal life and professional growth. For example, RVM's company culture is centered on the RV Difference, which encourages employees to make a difference in the lives of patients, coworkers and the communities in which they live.

“Our employees stay focused on our patients and make the RV Difference a reality,” said RVM CEO Larry Chatfield. “I extend my congratulations to our employees in New Jersey and all our facilities, as this award reflects the emphasis we put on our work environment and our efforts to delight our patients.”

RVM’s focus on its employees has helped the company achieve the highest employee retention rates in the renal care industry.

“We value our relationship with the state of New Jersey and are proud of our employees who call it home,” said Vice President of Strategic Services Jen Betz. “We strongly encourage health and wellness programs at RVM, and we believe in fostering a workplace that values employees’ active involvement and input in creating a positive workplace experience.”

In describing RVM, NJBIZ weekly business journal wrote, “Wellness funds become wellness fun in the hands of Renal Ventures Management employees, who use the money to support stress relief, good health and good times.”

The award program is produced by NJBIZ weekly business journal in partnership with the Employers Association of New Jersey.

About Renal Ventures Management, LLC

Renal Ventures Management LLC is a leading provider of dialysis services in the U.S. The company partners with hospitals and physicians to provide patients suffering from chronic kidney failure with knowledgeable, compassionate and quality-focused care in comfortable clinic settings. For its hospital and nephrologist partners, Renal Ventures Management provides management expertise and patient-focused care operations which center around collaboration, quality and effectiveness. Headquartered in Lakewood, Colo., the company operates 35 dialysis partnerships and 26 inpatient service contracts in six states. They also operate seven infusion centers in two states treating patients with various autoimmune disorders and a vascular access center in Lafayette, Louisiana. For more information, visit www.renalventures.com.

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Pathological stage was the only independent factor linked to kidney cancer progression.

NEW ORLEANS—The risk of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) progression after nephrectomy is only 5% after 10 recurrence-free years, researchers reported at the 2015 American Urological Association annual meeting. The most predictive factor for progression appears to be a pathologic stage above pT1.

For the study, Francesca Carobbio, MD, and colleagues from the University of Brescia in Italy examined the records of 554 RCC patients followed for a median 15 years after partial or radical nephrectomy. The majority of patients had clear cell RCC (86%); the remaining had papillary (7%), chromophobe (5%), and other types (2%).

For disease stage, 70% had stage 1, 10% had stage 2, 19% had stage 3, and 1% had stage 4. Grading was G1 in 16%, G2 in 57%, G3 in 21%, and G4 in 6%. Researchers selected patients without metastatic disease or recurrence in the first 10 years. Cancer-specific survival after 15 and 20 years was 98% and 96%, respectively.

Significantly, 29 patients (5.2%) experienced disease progression after a median 13.4 years. Progression occurred most frequently in the contralateral kidney and the lung. The researchers found that pathological stage was the only independent factor linked to cancer progression.

“Early detection of renal carcinoma recurrences is crucial,” Dr. Carobbio stressed to Renal & Urology News. “Early surgical removal of metastasized tumors can lead to regression of the disease in a significant proportion of patients and, in a minority of them, be truly curative.

“The risk of late recurrence is low for stage pT1,” she continued, “whereas it is significantly increased for higher-stage disease. Based on our findings, controls can be suspended after 10 years of follow up in patients with pT1 RCC with abdominal ultrasonography focusing on the contralateral kidney once every 2-3 years. For stage pT2, an abdominal examination with particular attention on the pancreas and an investigation of the thorax, preferably with CT, is advisable every year. For stage pT3, controls should be intensified in years 10-15, with more extensive use of the CT scan of the thorax and abdomen.”

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Experts participating in a European Clinical Consensus Conference (CCC) have concluded that research into the use of renal denervation for high blood pressure in patients unable to control the disease using a multi-drug regimen should not be abandoned until high-quality research is completed according to agreed-upon standards.

"Focused, collaborative high-quality research will be necessary to ensure that future patients are neither denied an effective therapy, nor needlessly put at risk from procedures that bring no benefits," the authors, led by Dr. Felix Mahfoud of Saarland University Hospital, Homburg/Saar, Germany, write.

The group's conclusions, including a roadmap for future research into non-drug treatment for resistant hypertension, is published today in the European Heart Journal and are the focus of a special session Wednesday at EuroPCR 2015.

Observational studies as well as three randomised, controlled trials support the safety and efficacy of the therapy, but smaller studies as well as the large, single-blind, randomised, sham-controlled Symplicity HTN-3 trial failed to show any benefit to renal denervation. The therapy uses radiofrequency energy or other ablation methods, delivered by a catheter, to disrupt the nerve signals travelling to and from the kidney, with the aim of lowering systolic blood pressure. In the wake of the Symplicity HTN-3, some clinicians have refused to endorse the procedure. Others, pointing to a significant unmet need, have argued it's too soon to abandon the investigative procedure, the CCC paper notes.

In their consensus document, Mahfoud and colleagues examine procedural aspects, patient selection, and clinical trials, reaching a number of important conclusions.

• At the procedural level, practitioners have learned that getting effective results with renal denervation is not as simple as it first seemed, particularly as it applies to achieving "complete" ablation. Better preclinical studies are needed, as are reliable markers to determine whether or not nerve ablation has been successful.
• In terms of the appropriate patient group, the CCC concluded that selecting "last resort" patients with high systolic blood pressure taking three or more drugs may not necessarily be the best patients in whom to use or indeed study the emerging therapy. Younger patients with moderate hypertension might actually have anatomy more suited to lasting results.
• With regards to appropriate clinical trials, the CCC strongly supports the use of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, both to determine the response to renal denervation, but also as a prerequisite for enrolling a patient in a RDN study. Other key factors for future research include how to measure adherence to blood pressure drugs, and how to standardize treatment during the study "run-in period." Finally, the requirement of using a sham-control procedure—and its inherent risks—may need to be dispensed with if lower-risk hypertension patients are studied, they propose.

Most of all, renal denervation research is in desperate need of standardization, the authors write. "Treatments, populations, methods, and adherence measures need to be highly consistent to avoid inconclusive or biased results."

"The open questions around renal denervation touch upon a large number of specialties from interventional cardiologists to hypertension experts and molecular biologists," Dr. Mahfoud commented. "The future of the therapy will depend on closer interactions at all levels, necessitating focused collaborative high-quality research, smaller projects targeting specific questions as well as large-scale multidisciplinary research programmes."

Explore further: EuroPCR 2014 session defines future horizons for renal denervation

More information: Mahfoud F, Bohm M, Azizi M, et al. Proceedings from the European clinical consensus conference for renal denervation: considerations on future clinical trial design. Eur Heart J 2015; DOI: DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehv192

Journal reference: European Heart Journal

Provided by EuroPCR

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