This blog post focuses on some of the lesser-discussed aspects of ESRD: depression and psychosocial issues related to ESRD. Studying depression in the ESRD population is an important issue because it is likely the most prevalent psychiatric disease…
Within the last 2 years dialysis facilities in the US have been adjusting to the now not-so-new Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Conditions of Coverage. CMS, as many of you know, funds the ESRD program to…
This month’s issue of AJKD includes an enlightening group of 6 editorials, each written from a unique perspective (e.g., the perspective of large dialysis corporations, the perspective of the ESRD Networks, the perspective of non-profit dialysis corporations, etc.),…
An interesting figure in this month’s ASN Kidney News details the quarterly earnings for three major dialysis companies in the U.S.: DaVita, Dialysis Corporation of America (DCA), and Fresenius. Also included in the figure (not shown here) is…
Well, I had hoped to be more of an active blogger during my holiday vacation this year, but my internet access has been much spottier than desired way out in the boondocks of Western France (not that I…
The first order of business for today’s Renal Fellow Network is to welcome another regular contributor to the mix: nephrology fellow Albert Lam, of Brigham & Women’s Hospital. Fresh off the Nephrology boards, Albert will be periodically posting…
Hypovitaminosis D is implicated in a wide variety of disease states, including insulin resistance and diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease. A new new study in JASN suggests it may also influence the development of de-novo renal disease. The…
Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is one of the potential neurologic complications associated with CKD or ESRD, though it can also occur independently of kidney dysfunction, with some cases of familial transmission documented (though no gene has yet to…
First things first: last week’s poll results showed that the majority of individuals were wary of using physician “Pay For Performance” as a strategy towards increasing AV fistula placement rates. Proponents of this strategy (see editorial by Hakim…
The normalized protein catabolic rate (nPCR) is a formula commonly used to assess dietary protein intake in dialysis patients, as a means towards determining nutritional adequacy, a major problem in many ESRD patients. For example, say you have…
