Heard an interesting presentation at our Renal Grand Rounds today regarding a young patient with end-stage renal disease secondary to sickle cell disease who is continually admitted for sickle cell crises. The question arose whether or not erythropoietin…
CMV (cytomegalovirus) infection is quite common in the transplant population, and fortuantely the development and utilization of valganciclovir (Valcyte), an oral prodrug of ganciclovir, as a prophylactic agent has dramatically cut down on the number of CMV infections…
Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD) is caused by the autosomal dominant transmission of mutations in one of two genes identified thus far: PKD1 (which accounts for about 85% of all cases and encodes for the polycystin-1 protein)…
We are all familiar with “uremic pericarditis” as one of the standard indications for initiating dialysis, and the number of physical exams with a negative cardiac rub I have documented this year is truly impressive. Which is why,…
When you are called at 5pm to start pheresis on a patient with Wegener’s granulomatosis who is already on dialysis…there is a certain part of the renal fellow which wants to say, “Come on–the dude is already on…
There are many diseases which can recur following renal transplant: examples include IgA Nephropathy (which has a very high rate of recurrence on follow biopsy but is rarely clinically relevant in that it does not cause significant allograft…
There is an interesting paper in the literature which just came out–I have to admit that I’m a little biased since the senior author is my father, also a nephrologist–describing the dialysis of the most obese patient ever…
Did you know that diarrhea increases the absorption of Prograf (tacrolimus, FK506)? Drug levels must be monitored closely in this setting to avoid tacrolimus-induced allograft toxicity. Tacrolimus is even considered a cause of diarrhea by some, though its…
Aristolochic acid is an herb used in many varieties of Chinese herbs and health supplements. Interestingly, it also can cause a severe form of interstitial nephritis which has been known by several names, most notably “Chinese herb nephropathy”…
What are the cells that make up crescents, the histopathologic hallmark of rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis (RPGN)? Classically these have been thought to be the parietal epithelial cells which make up Bowman’s capsule. However there is now some thought…