We all know that there is a drastic shortage of donor kidneys available: in the state of Massachusetts, for instance, the average time on the kidney transplant waiting list we’re quoting to patients is about 5 years…which for…
Changes are afoot at Renal Fellow Network! First off, we’re going to feature a NEW CONTRIBUTOR to this blog! Despite the blog’s moniker of “Renal Fellow Network”, it has not been as much of a “network” as I’d…
Too long have I seen the “Nail-Patella Syndrome” included in the differential diagnosis of renal disease without understanding anything about it…that ends today! The Nail Patella Syndrome (NPS), also referred to as Hereditary Onychoosteodysplasia, is an autosomal dominant…
Bizarre case of hypernatremia: a suicide attempt by a 73 year-old Japanese man in which the individual drank massive amounts of soy sauce. According to this 2006 Neurology paper by Machino et al, the patient presented with vomiting,…
You can probably tell that I am working my way through the most recent NephSAP on Vascular Access, as I keep on posting access-related posts. Today while leafing through the section on dialysis catheters, I was amused to…
Current KDOQI Guidelines recommend the use of some type of vascular mapping studies in order to prepare for the creation of an AV fistula or an AV graft. While physical exam is useful–typically, application of a tourniquet around…
Cool new resource for all those iPod/iPhone (or whatever your MP3 player or PDA of choice happens to be): the ASN Kidney News podcast series. I have been listening to these during days in the lab where I…
The discovery of aquaporins–the protein family of water channels which regulate water transport in the kidney and many other tissues–was considered significant enough to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for Peter Agre in 2003. The aquaporins…
Sjogren’s syndrome is an autoimmune disorder in which there is immune-mediated damage to the exocrine glands which produce tears and saliva. Many patients (up to 25%) will have extraglandular manifestations of the disease, one of the possibilities of…
Okay, you’re probably not going to see this in your lifetime, but imagine how cool you’ll seem when you whip out “matchstick ingestion” as part of the differential diagnosis for hyperkalemia and AKI. Matchstick heads are comprised of…
