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Risk Factors for Chronic Kidney Disease

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Chronic kidney disease is defined as damage of the renal parenchyma that results in chronic deterioration of kidney function and may result in progression to end-stage renal disease. It is a non-communicable disease that includes a range of physiological disorders which are attributed to abnormal renal function and its progressive decline infiltration rate (the glomerular filtration rate).

There are five stages of kidney damage in chronic kidney disease that range from mild kidney dysfunction to complete failure. The burden of chronic kidney disease is increasing worldwide and is becoming increasingly prevalent in developing countries. Overall, the prevalence is estimated to be between 8 and 16% worldwide. Patients who have stage three or four chronic kidney disease are at a higher risk of progressing to either end-stage renal disease or death. Read more.

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Why is donor care essential?

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Living-kidney donation is a precious gift for someone who is suffering from end-stage kidney disease. If an individual’s kidneys are damaged or diseased, they may be able to donate one of their two healthy organs. The remaining kidney will then take over the functions necessary for life. Kidney donation doesn’t affect the function or survival of your remaining kidney. Many living donors go on to lead healthy lives as well. Instead, your remaining kidney may increase its capacity to function by an average of 22.4%. This is known as “compensatory growth.” Read the full story.

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Organ donation: how to register and have conversations with loved ones

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In January, the University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine announced the first peer-reviewed research outlining the successful transplant of genetically modified pig kidneys into a brain-dead human individual.

Notably, the study recipient, Jim Parsons, had two genetically modified pig kidneys transplanted in his abdomen after his native kidneys were removed. This research was successful because Parsons opted to be an organ donor, a choice that affected the course of transplantation. Although his organs were not viable for transplantation, Parsons’ body was donated to science after his family agreed to allow him to be part of the world’s first-of-its-kind xenotransplantation study with Legacy of Hope at UAB Hospital. Read more.

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How Important are Our Kidneys to Our Overall Health?

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The kidneys play a dominant role in regulating both the volume and composition of the extracellular fluid. They function to ensure that the body maintains a homeostatic internal environment. They achieve this by excreting the appropriate amounts of several types of solutes. The substances that are ex greeted are both substances that are in excess, and therefore waste, alongside foreign compounds.

When kidneys fail, several problems result. The first-line treatment of kidney impairment, dysfunction, or failure, or dialysis and kidney transplantation, though the latter is common only for advanced (end-stage) kidney disease. Read more.

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Surgeon’s Heartwarming Tweet About Seeing Former Patient Goes Viral

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Adifficult day turned around for Dr. Dinee Simpson after she unexpectedly ran into a former patient of hers when she grabbed some coffee, as detailed in a now-viral tweet.

“Woman next to me stared at my ID badge and started to cry,” read Simpson’s tweet, which has more than 272,000 likes at the time of publication. “I did her liver transplant last year, she was so sick then. Today she had her hair did, makeup on, and looked FABULOUS.”
Read the full story.

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Likelihood of lung transplant in IPF linked to access, ZIP code income

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Regardless of disease severity and lung transplant eligibility, patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis who have access to a lung transplant center and live in more affluent areas have a higher probability of undergoing lung transplant.

“As clinicians and policymakers strive to ensure that eligible patients with IPF have equal opportunity to undergo a lung transplant, a better understanding of factors associated with lung transplant is needed,” Aparna Swaminathan, MD, assistant professor of medicine and member in the Duke Clinical Research Institute and the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, and colleagues wrote. Read more.

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Impact of Race and Geographic Area of Residence on Outcomes After Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant

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Front Oncol. 2022 Feb 25;12:801879. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.801879. eCollection 2022.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (allo-HCT) is a potential curative therapy for a variety of hematologic disorders. However, it requires highly specialized care that is only available at select centers across the country. Thus, minority populations are at risk for healthcare disparities in access to and outcomes of allo-HCT. Our study aimed to assess the impact of race and location of residence on outcomes of allo-HCT. Read more.

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Damaged Lungs Breathe Life into University of Kentucky COVID Research

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on the bottom of a sealed plastic container. It doesn’t look like much ­­– in fact, it doesn’t look like anything. But this little black lump has untold potential, full of secrets for the researchers at Kentucky Research Alliance for Lung Disease (K-RALD) to discover about the pandemic that has ravaged the world for more than two years.

This black lump is a sample of a lung from a COVID-19 patient. Specifically, it belonged to Dave Hoover, the first Kentuckian to receive a double lung transplant after contracting COVID-19. Hoover fell ill in February 2021, and after declining rapidly, he was transplanted two months later. He donated his lungs to researchers in the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, who added it to the K-RALD biobank of lung samples. Read more.

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