Biomarkers for Cancer of the Kidney

By admin

Published: November 26, 2009

Medscape is reporting new research points to several biomarkers (molecules that can be tested for in relationship to a disease) have been found which may predict the odds of survival in renal cell cancer.
The data reviewed is derived from the TARGET study Treatment Approaches in Renal Cancer Global Evaluation Trial.
“Carol Peña, PhD, associate director for clinical cancer [...]

Sleep apnea and Transplantation

By admin

Published: November 25, 2009

Health day has reported that patients with sleep apnoea are at increased risk of high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke. Excerpt below
“Kidney transplant patients with sleep apnea are at increased risk for high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke, Hungarian researchers say.
The study of 100 kidney transplant recipients found that 25 percent had moderate [...]

Sirolimus for Polycystic Kidney Disease

By admin

Published: November 18, 2009

New treatment options for polycystic kidney disease do not come along very often. The nature of the disease is such that treatment is inherently difficult as the pathophysiology is incompletely understood.

Despite that various methods are currently being investigated. One such is the drug sirolimus, which  has been mentioned before. More recently however a pilot study [...]

Preventing Repeat Hospitalization in Dialysis

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Published: November 16, 2009

Dialysis patients are known to have greater rates of hospitalization as compared to other patients. The cause for this is believed to be multifactorial. The present study by Chan et. al. looks at possible factors which may reduces the rate of hospitalization of dialysis patients after an initial admission.
The population studied was quite large with [...]

What is Intradialytic hypertension?

By admin

Published: November 13, 2009

High blood pressure after dialysis or towards the end of dialysis is a nuisance problem that just seems to keep coming up in every dialysis unit. Frequently patients are kept for observation or admitted which increases the cost of giving care. It can also be quite frustrating to treat. This phenomenon is known as [...]

Beneficial Effect of Coffee in Dialysis Patients

By admin

Published: November 9, 2009

Coffee is arguably the most popular beverage worldwide yet its impact on renal disease is largely unknown and its effect on dialysis patients is even more obscure.
There have been many claims of medicinal or health benefits for drinking coffee. Studies have shown apparent reductions in the risks of:

Alzheimer’s disease
Parkinson’s disease
Heart disease
Diabetes mellitus type 2
Cirrhosis of [...]

New Dialysis Modality Daily OL-HDF

By admin

Published: November 6, 2009

A study published in the november issue of Nephrology Dialysis and Transplantation has reported that growth retardation in pediatric dialysis patients (the propensity for children to not achieve normal height) can be improved by a type of dialysis known as daily on line hemodiafiltration (DOLHDF).
OLDHDF is a treatment modality that combines two types of treatment [...]

Latest Kidney News: Post ASN Round Up.

By admin

Published: November 4, 2009

image:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/blackcustard/ / CC BY-SA 2.0
Medwire is reporting improved survival among Finnish patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus on dialysis. This report is based on a study done 314 dialysis patients in Finland published online in the journal nephrology dialysis and transplantation.
The reason for improved survival is believed to be due to improvement in diabetes care [...]

Darbepoetin alfa is unsafe as well?

By admin

Published: November 2, 2009

Darbepoetin alfa is a an erythropoesis stimulating agent marketed under the name Aranesp by AMGEN. It is used for the treatment of anemia ( a lower than normal blood count) as a consequence of renal failure or cancer.
The use of other similar agents has been questioned over the last 2 to 3 years due to [...]