As a kid growing up in the San Francisco ACT brought to mind guys in tights running around and projecting their voices at the American Conservatory Theater. Now I’ve got to adjust my association with the acronym with…
Here is a handy free PD calculator for your phone that I came across today. It includes an Access Care and Complications Manual that covers the management of PD catheters and infectious peritonitis, a PD Prescription Guide with PD Prescription…
Glucocorticoid-Remediable Aldosteronism (GRA) is an inherited autosomal dominant disorder which causes early-onset (often childhood) high blood pressure, often occuring in individuals with Celtic ancestry. It typically presents with standard symptoms of aldosteronism (hypertension, hypokalemia, and metabolic alkalosis) with…
The development of acute hyponatraemia can have profound neurological consequences. After creation of an osmotic gradient between the intravascular compartment and the intracellular compartment, water must somehow gain access to the brain tissue. This appears to be mediated,…
Renal pathologists may throw out the term “full house” immunostaining…what does this mean? This means quite simply that all five major immunofluorescent stains on a renal biopsy (IgM, IgG, IgA, C3, and C1q) are all positive. The analogy…
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection affects more than 180 million people globally, may lead to renal disease and is prevalent in 11-49% of patients with end-stage renal disease, depending on geographical location. With that picture in mind, we…
In the absence of glucose, the brain requires a water-soluble, fat-derived fuel for metabolism and ketoacids serve this function. Unsurprisingly, as a result of this, the main factor controlling the production of ketoacids is the relative lack of…
If your looking for something new and interesting in the online Nephrology world check out Dr Ajay Singh’s The Kidney Doctor. Since starting up last month there has already been some great content including a post from the…
While performing an electronic chart biopsy prior to examining a consult patient, I noticed a “nephrologic no-no,” which can be seen on the patient’s chest x-ray coursing under the right clavicle (see image). This finding was confirmed on…
The fractional excretion of sodium (FeNa) is a test that is often used in the setting of acute renal failure to help distinguish between pre-renal and intra-renal causes that has been mentioned in previous blog posts. In general,…