Peritoneal dialysis associated peritonitis is the second commonest cause of death among PD patients (35/1000 years) and the most common cause of treatment failure. It confers a CV risk of 7 times normal for 6 months following the…
A recent renal consult I encountered was a Cantonese gentleman with a classical symptomatic history for Hypokalemic Periodic Paralysis (HPP). He presented with a serum K of 1.4 mmol/l and profound weakness. Initially beginning in his teenage years,…
The next Nephrology online journal club (#NephJC) will discuss the results of the CORONARY Trial, presented at the late breaking session at the ASN and published this year in JAMA. The trial compared patients undergoing their first coronary…
Lithium is indispensable as an effective treatment for bipolar affective disorder. However, it has a narrow therapeutic index with desired therapeutic levels between 0.6 and 1.2 mEq/L. Lithium is handled by the kidney (responsible for almost all its…
Parvovirus B19 (PVB19) is a small, non-enveloped, single-stranded DNA virus belonging to the Erythrovirus genus, named for their tropism for erythroid precursor cells. It is the only known parvovirus to infect humans. By late adulthood, most people have…
Similar to my recent post on C1q Nephropathy, IgM Nephropathy (IgMN) is a podocytopathy that is often considered a variant of Minimal Change disease (MCD) or FSGS. Like C1QN, it is also a controversial entity with a lack…
The next Nephrology Twitter Journal Club (@NephJC) will discuss the POSEIDON Trial which has been published in The Lancet. Interest in the prevention of Contrast Induced Nephropathy (CIN) is alive and well with several novel approaches/therapies being recently…
I saw a 20 year old African American male in clinic with nephrotic range proteinuria, reduced GFR and no signs or symptoms of a systemic disease. His mother developed ESRD at age 36 and his brother, aged 26,…
It’s time for a quick nephro-centric summary of immune globulin use. Immune globulin, usually administered intravenously (IVIg), is made from pooled human plasma and used for a wide variety of human disease. It contains mostly IgG with various…
The next Nephrology Twitter Journal Club (@NephJC) will discuss a study in JASN describing the use of Atrasentan, a selective Endothelin-A receptor blocker, in diabetic kidney disease. This is the latest attempt to resurrect this class of agents…
