Plasma oncotic pressure is important to prevent edema, right? And you would think that albumin, which plays a critical role in the binding of multiple plasma proteins and ionized calcium, is essential to life, right? The rare, autosomal…
The three letter acronym EMT: what should it mean to nephrologists? Not just “emergency medical technician”…but also “epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition.” As we all know the nephron is comprised of a long tube of highly-differentiated epithelial cells. These cells…
It’s important to teach your kids the important stuff in life…like, for instance, the fact that the kidneys are located in a retroperitoneal location, as demonstrated by my daughter.
I recently had to look up the differential diagnosis of nodular glomerulosclerosis: we had recently sent a clinic patient to undergo a renal biopsy based on a history of nephrotic-range proteinuria (urine protein to creatinine ratio of about…
I heard a lecture not too long ago on atheroembolic renal disease which claimed that atheroembolic renal disease is to nephrology as sarcoidosis is to internal medicine. That is to say, it can present in a myriad of…
The histology of HIVAN (HIV-Associated Nephropathy), at the light microscopy level, is indistinguishable from that of collapsing FSGS: the glomerular capillary loops are collapsed. Furthermore, both entities demonstrate foot process effacement (as in all forms of nephrotic syndrome)…
Mycophenolic acid is a commonly encountered medication in nephrology. In addition to its use in the vast majority of kidney transplant recipients as part of the immunosuppressive regimen, it is also gaining popularity in the treatment of immune-mediated…
Clinical trials evaluating the efficacy of various therapies of membranous nephropathy is a tricky business, given the natural history of the disease: because about 1/3 of patients spontaneously remit, it is often difficult to say that a patient’s…
This is an interesting figure, taken from the 2008 USRDS (United States Renal Disease System) Atlas, which illustrates where patients in the U.S. are getting their dialysis from these days. Nearly 63% of all patients are getting dialysis…
Cytoxan is a very potent but also potentially toxic medication used for a variety of immune-mediated (and nephrology-relevant) diseases. It is often classified as a “cytotoxic agent”, as it works as an alkylating agent that explains its utility…
