The easy way to calculate total body water is simply to multiply 0.6 times your weight in kilograms, since roughly 2/3 of your body weight is water. There are fancier (and more accurate) equation-based calculations used to determine…
Interesting review in this month’s CJASN: “Can we personalize treatment for kidney diseases?” by Rovin et al. The term “personalized medicine” has been defined by the U.S. Congress as, “the application of genomic and molecular data to…
The winners of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine were revealed today, shared by three Americans: Carol Greider, Elisabeth Blackburn, and Jack Szostak, the latter of whom works at my home institution of Massachusetts General Hospital. The award…
As we all know, there are significant limitations to the use of creatinine as an estimate of GFR. Creatinine is freely filtered at the glomerulus, but in addition is also secreted to some degree, meaning that creatinine clearance…
The readers of the Renal Fellow Network have spoken, and the answer is clear: the most blood pressure elevating activity is catheter-related! 29% of fellows selected the first answer (the MICU nurse paging you to inform that your…
Calciphylaxis (also called calcific uremic arteriolopathy) is a syndrome of vascular calcification, thrombosis, and necrosis, occurring almost exclusively in ESRD patients. The diagnosis is typically achieved by clinical exam–demonstrating painful, necrotic, and sometimes ulcerating lesions usually on the…
One of the largest controversies in the field of proteinuria/nephrotic syndrome research derives from a 2007 Kidney International paper published by Russo et al. Briefly stated, the authors suggest the paradigm-shifting idea that the glomerulus filters massive amounts…
The French, renowned for their culinary excellence, pride themselves on being able to include every part of the cow in a tasty dish. Regrettably, this includes finding uses for the many internal organs, one of the more challenging…
We all know that there is a drastic shortage of donor kidneys available: in the state of Massachusetts, for instance, the average time on the kidney transplant waiting list we’re quoting to patients is about 5 years…which for…
Changes are afoot at Renal Fellow Network! First off, we’re going to feature a NEW CONTRIBUTOR to this blog! Despite the blog’s moniker of “Renal Fellow Network”, it has not been as much of a “network” as I’d…
