At the Brigham and Women’s Hospital & the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, there is an ongoing trial of using pneumonectomy and injected, heated cisplatin into the pleural space for patients with malignant mesothelioma, a condition with an overall…
Ototoxicity–which can occur via both auditory and vestibular mechanisms–is one of the major side effects of aminoglycoside use, particularly in dialysis patients. A recent paper looked at N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) as a potential strategy for preventing ototoxicity in…
Renagel (sevelamer hydrochloride) is one of the most utilized phosphate binders in the U.S., though its superiority compared to other (and cheaper) phosphate binders remains controversial. One of the theoretical benefits of using Renagel is that it should…
We prescribe them with abandon to our CKD and ESRD patients…Nephrocaps, Renavit, whatever you want to call it. How many nephrologists do you think are able to name all the ingredients in this vitamin-containing tablet? The not-so-secret ingredients:…
A relatively new immunosuppressant agent–originally approved for treatment of refractory rheumatoid arthritis but now gaining steam as an anti-rejection medication for kidney transplant recipients–is abatacept (marketed under the trade name Orencia by Bristol-Myers-Squibb. Its mechanism of action is…
I’m reporting LIVE from the American Society of Nephrology convention in Philadelphia, PA. I’ll be blogging from here as time & internet connectivity permit. The conference starts in earnest tomorrow morning. Until then: common drug interactions for TACROLIMUS…
Once a frequent culprit of acute interstitial nephritis, vancomycin is a very rare cause of renal failure with newer formulations which use a different vehicle for its iv administration. It still however has the potential to cause the…
It is somewhat controversial whether or not pregnant women with lupus experience flares more frequently than their non-pregnant counterparts. Regardless, however, the issue of a lupus flare in a pregnant patient is not uncommon, especially considering that the…
Cyclosporin A (CsA) has been a mainstay of therapy for nephrologists: it (along with tacrolimus) has become the cornerstone of immunosuppressant therapy for kidney transplant patients; in addition, it has also seen use as an effective agent in…
Another oncologic medication with a specific renal side effect is gemcitabine (Gemzar), a nucleoside analogue used with frequency to treat cancer of the lung, pancreas, breast and colon to name a few. Gemcitabine can cause a thrombotic…
