The Treatment Of Kidney Diseases Essay

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a worldwide problem that is currently three times higher for African Americans, Hispanics, Pacific Islanders, American Indians and seniors (The National Kidney Foundation, 2013). CKD occurs when the kidneys are damaged by a pathogen or injury and they can no longer adequately maintain proper levels of regulated chemicals in the bloodstream. There are many risk associated with CKD. According to the National Kidney Foundation, two of the major risks are Chronic Renal Failure (CRF) and Cardiovascular Disease. Currently twenty million American adults have CKD and millions of others are at increased risk. Age has no barrier on getting CKD. People with pre-existing health issues, and a part of certain population

There are at least 66,000 Americans awaiting kidneys, while only a tenth of that number of kidneys are transplanted from deceased donors per year (Postrel). The amount of people awaiting organs is rising, and with the shortage of organs that are

Does there exist a universal HLA matching? (analogous to type O blood being the universal donor) Or perhaps can antigens be processed to increase compatibility rates in organ donations? These are just a few of the many questions I have accumulated in a notebook I keep hidden under my pillow--simply thinking about these problems has led to many sleepless nights. From a very young age, I’ve always had a keen eye and a curious mind that have motivated me to ask questions about the things around me. My curiosities eventually developed into the dream of being a scientist, which has been

One other factor that is evaluated in transplantation allocation is the correct blood type. This factor is crucial for transplants since the wrong blood type can lead to death. This tragedy had occurred to 17-year-old Jessica Santillian at Duke University Hospital when surgeons had given her a heart and two lungs with the wrong blood type. She and the rest of her family came “...to the United States from Mexico four years ago, smuggled into the country illegally by her parents in search of treatment for a life-threatening heart and lung disorder that doctors in Mexico could not fix. They moved to North Carolina.” (Kopp). After an hour and 15 minutes after the transplant was completed, her body started to reject the new organs. “The antibodies in her blood began attacking and destroying her new organs, and she later slipped into a light coma” (Kopp). The surgeons discovered that Jessica’s blood type was type O, yet the blood type of the new organs was type A. The surgeon in charge, Dr. Jaggers, was informed by the Carolina Donor Services about the donor’s blood type; however, he did not seem to recall the conversation and no one else double checked. He decided that it to improve the current situation, Jessica was to be given a second transplant,

Mr. Newman is a 49 year old male who has hematuria, fever and severe flank pain. He also has bilateral lumbar tenderness, bilateral renal enlargement, liver enlargement, ankle and facial edema, skin pallor, and lung sounds suggest pulmonary edema.

Becker and Elias in their article: Cash for Kidneys: A Case for the Market of Organs, show many different perspectives in both fact and opinion on the topic of Kidney transplants.  The amount of kidney transplants in 2012 greatly differ from a decade ago as the average wait time for a transplant has increased by 1.6 years and the amount of American Citizens needing a transplant has risen by 41,000 people.  Today, the demand for a kidney transplant far exceeds the supply of matching donor kidneys.  With four main blood types and different muscle tissues to match, this is both a lengthy and difficult task.  With less kidneys than needed, hence the current wait time of 4.5 years, many people die while waiting for the transplant they so desperately

Ms. S.M. was a patient admitted for the management of renal failure. During morning rounds, we noticed her potassium levels to be elevated. She was asymptomatic and her EKG did not show any abnormal changes. As a team, we coordinated with each other and successfully managed her potassium levels. The hours spent to manage this patient helped me to understand the importance of clear communication and the dynamics of team work in a hospital setting. Though we managed her hyperkalemia, the patient was still facing an uncertain prognosis with her kidney disease. Her family members were worried about providing financial support for her care, which is a major problem in India. It made me wonder if there was anything more we could do for her. However, along with providing clinical care, establishing a relationship with her and her son gave me a sense of satisfaction. It made me realize the potential of developing long term relations with my patients in this field.

A significant issue is that kidney transplants have become much harder to receive due to the limited supply and the high demand. Thousands of people will be placed on a waiting list for an organ transplant and unfortunately will be on that list for months

Polycystic Kidney Disease is an inherited disease that can also form from having existing kidney problems. It is when cysts develop in the kidney and interferes with the filtering of waste from the blood. The cyst in the kidney can lead to inflation and kidney failure, hence as to why it is the fourth leading cause to kidney failure. There are three cases of PKD, these includes Autosomal Dominant PKD (ADPKD), Autosomal Recessive PKD (ARPKD) and Acquired Cystic Kidney Disease (ACKD). These types of PKD are determined on how and when you get the disease or how prone to it you are.

Supporters of having a donor child would state that it is a necessity to take advantage of

Kidney disease has become more prevalent over the years, one in nine Americans has chronic kidney disease, resulting in the need for a kidney transplant. Kidney failure is caused by variety of factors resulting in damage of the nephrons, which are the most important functioning unit of the kidneys. Kidney failure can be broken down into three groups: acute, chronic, end-stage. Once kidney failure is irreversible, dialysis or transplantation is the only method of survival. To avoid a kidney transplant, one needs to be aware of the pre-disposing factors, signs and symptoms, available treatments, and proper diet.

Finding a potential donor involves matching the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) tissue. These antigens are on the surface of special white blood cells. The HLA tissue determines the genetic makeup of a person’s immune system (The Johns Hopkins University, para. 11). Doctors try to minimize the possible side effects of BMTs by using donor stem cells that match the patients as closely as possible. The overall success of a BMT depends on how closely the match between donor and patient was. Less than one-third of patients will have a matched sibling; siblings are often the closest matches. In about one-half of the cases it is possible to find an unrelated, matched donor. The chances of a donor matching a patient increase drastically if the two are of the same racial and ethnic background. Blood work is used to determine the level of a match between donor and patient. Donor registries are often used to find donors when there is no related match.

There are many different treatments for diabetes such as making sure that you take your insulin, counting the amount of carbohydrates you are putting in your body and how many you are burning, monitoring your blood sugar to make sure that its not getting to high, changing your eating habits and making sure that you are exercising on a regular basis to maintain a healthy weight. A new treatment with living with diabetes is that you can get Islet transplantation, pancreas transplantation, and kidney replacement therapy. Islet transplantation can be used in type one-diabetes patients this transplantation is used by using islet clusters, which are in the pancreas that make insulin. As stated in the Islet transplantation article by Patricia Anderson

The general allocation policies of organ transplants starts with the waiting list process. The donor recipient must do a series of tests required for the transplant of an organ, the results will be entered into the UNOS computer system. The UNOS computer system will match the deceased donors to the recipients by comparing the HLA (human leukocyte antigen) and the computer will show a “match list” that will be based on the number of antigens matching and the antibody levels of the recipient. The length of time the recipient has been on the waiting list is also taken into

There is a pair of kidneys in the human body. They are situated towards the back of the body under the ribs, just at the level of the waist where one on either side of the body. Each kidney is composed of about one million units which are called nephrons and each nephron consists of two parts: a filter which is called the glomerulus and a tubule leading out from the nephron (Cameron 1999). According to Marshall and Bangert (2008) the kidneys have three major functions. Firstly, the kidneys are excretion of waste from plasma in the blood. The second function is that, they maintain of extracellular fluid volume and composition. Lastly, the kidneys have a role in hormone synthesis.