I was recently called to evaluate an obese patient with profound metabolic acidosis who was admitted to the hospital with change in mental status and poor oral intake for several days. Her admission labs revealed severe hyperglycemia (glucose…
As you would have likely guessed by looking at the picture to the left we often tend to believe what we see without giving much thought. This is frequently true in the evaluation and management of patients with…
Since the discovery of Erythropoietin in 1977 and subsequent cloning of the gene in 1985, recombinant Erythropoietin (EPO) has been widely used in the management of anemia due to cancer, chemotherapy, and chronic kidney disease. Although the endocrine…
Call it serendipity or mere coincidence, I recently saw a patient with Prostate cancer treated with an experimental chemotherapy protocol that was sent to our clinic for evaluation of Fanconi syndrome and proteinuric stage 3 chronic kidney disease…
In the evaluation of patients with hyponatremia (serum Na less than 135 mEq/L), differentiating hypovolemia from euvolemia is often challenging, particularly if the history and physical findings are unrevealing and frequently leads to misdiagnosis. This conundrum exists even…
A 30-year-old man was admitted to our hospital for evaluation of lung nodules detected during pre transplant evaluation for his stage V chronic kidney disease (CKD). Sounds routine, but what caught me completely clueless was when I was…
The whole fiasco about the antenna and reception issue with the iPhone 4 made me realize that unlike other professions, where several chances exist to rectify a problem, clinicians often have only one chance to get it right…
Hypokalemia and metabolic alkalosis are considered precipitating factors for hepatic encephalopathy, as hypokalemia stimulates ammoniagenesis in the proximal tubule. Although, the mechanism is not entirely clear, the likely hypothesis is as follows: *Hypokalemia causes the movement of potassium…
Cisplatin based therapy for the treatment of solid organ tumors is commonly associated with several renal abnormalities including; *hypokalemia*hypomagnesemia*hypocalcemia*hypophosphatemia*fanconi-like syndrome*acute kidney injury We have all seen these complications on the renal consult service at least once. However, less…
