#allthingskidneyofficial Archives - All Things Kidney ~ Official

Lupus Nephritis

May 23, 2022May 30, 2022Leave a comment

Lupus is a prominent name among the myriad chronic inflammatory conditions where the body’s immune system begins attacking its own tissues. This autoimmune condition can impact virtually any organ of the body. It is incurable, the clinical presentation is widely variable with sometimes debilitating flares and the complications, potentially fatal in some cases when left untreated. Among other organs, Kidneys are a prime target here. So, as a portal dedicated to nephrology, let us walk you through the what-why-how of this challenging autoimmune disorder with specific focus on Lupus Nephritis – its kidney chapter. It is Lupus Awareness Month (May) after all!

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Understanding the complete COVID19 Warrior Toolkit: Kids’ Edition

January 22, 2022February 8, 2022Leave a comment

The COVID19 pandemic has generally seen children co-operating with following necessary precautions. However, rampant misinformation circulating online has also had its toll on impressionable minds in the form of harmful anti-mask & anti-immunization (without medical reasons) attitudes. Moreover, stringent posturing, a chastising rhetoric and occasional confused messaging by some frustrated authorities w.r.t. COVID19 policies are only proving counter-productive.

Amidst such times, how to keep your children motivated to continue following what’s scientific & logical?

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COVID19 Vaccines vs Evusheld ® vs Mask: What works the best in Immunocompromised?

December 17, 2021May 11, 2022Leave a comment

COVID19 prevention has been a tough nut to crack especially in the Immunocompromised. On one hand, the COVID19 vaccines fell short in patients with moderate to severe weakening of immunity. This included kidney patients with advanced pre-dialysis state, those on dialysis and post-transplant. On the other, in certain kidney patient cohorts who did develop traceable immune response to the vaccines ended up with a flaring of pre-existing underlying autoimmune kidney diseases like IgA Nephropathy.

Then we have Evusheld ® – drug maker AstraZeneca’s new long acting monoclonal antibody combo shot. This antibody drug (generic name: AZD7442) was granted an Emergency Use Authorization by the USFDA on December 8th, 2021. With its “ready-made immune protection”, this long acting antibody (LAAB) drug shows promise in preventing symptomatic COVID19 in immunocompromised patients (just like vaccines do in immunocompetent). However, only time will tell how well it performs on-field. Read more here.

But then, amidst this steady inflow of pharmacological strategies to ward-off COVID19, if something has managed to survive it’s the utility of the humble face mask. Of-course, other COVID safe practices like following strict hygiene protocols and avoiding crowds go hand-in-hand.

So what works the best?

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Evusheld ® : “Readymade” Immune Protection against COVID-19 in Immunocompromised

December 15, 2021December 19, 2021Leave a comment

When vaccines fall short in offering relevant immune protection in the Immunocompromised, what really works? When such suboptimal immune protection wanes a lot faster in comparison to that immunocompetent individuals, is there a better option?

“Ready-made”, sustainable Immune Protection perhaps?

Well that’s exactly what Evusheld ® – drugmaker AstraZeneca’s “New Kid on the Block” in the long-acting monoclonal antibody drug combo can potentially offer.

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Kidney Transplant: Hospital Recovery after the Surgery

August 27, 2021September 3, 2021Leave a comment

Imagine this. You’re yet to open your eyes, but you’re conscious. You can hear hushed voices around you, sense a strong ambient smell, get a feeling of being “lifted & wheeled somewhere”. At a point, you feel a sudden pain on one side of your lower abdomen. It’s only a matter of time that you open your eyes nice & wide and if health & luck are on your side, you recognize most of those masked faces, where you are and what you just underwent. Wondering what’s this all about? Well, that’s my own experience of waking-up after my Kidney Transplant Surgery.

Of course things may differ individually, depending on how the new kidney works in a recipient and his/her general health. Despite variable experiences, once you do wake up, you officially enter the Transplant Survivor Club. Congratulations!

So how does the rest of your hospital stay look like?

That is what we aim to walk you through, with this article.

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Kidney Disease in Transgender Individuals

April 20, 2021April 25, 2021Leave a comment

On Transgender Day of Visibility, we came across a number of relevant articles on the need for better representation of the Transgender community in various spheres of life.

Invariably, our attention turned towards their representation, inclusion & access to healthcare, especially with respect to kidney disease. This basic thought drove us to present you with evidence based insight into the risk & prevalence of kidney disease in the Trans community that can be linked to Gender affirmation treatments.

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Kidney Transplant: The Operation

January 21, 2021May 21, 2021Leave a comment

Kidney Transplant is the surgical procedure to trans-fer a healthy, matched kidney from a willing donor & im-plant it in a patient with kidney failure to prolong the patient’s life. Till date, this is the best treatment for the majority of patients with kidney failure due to Chronic Kidney Disease.

Team ATK has always advocated in favour of gaining a thorough understanding of your disease process & treatments.

Keeping in sync with this principle, our article today dissects the kidney transplant surgery for you. We present the topic in two parts as below:

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Kidney Transplant: Before the surgery – II

December 13, 2020May 21, 2021Leave a comment

Transplant

Hello kidney warriors & knowledge seekers! Today, we continue from our previous article on all steps that kidney patients & kidney donors need to follow before getting admitted to the hospital for a Transplant surgery.

The article today explains the basic workflow involved for every kidney patient scheduled for a transplant & their donor starting from hospital admission until they finally get to go under the knife.

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Kidney Transplant: Before the surgery – I

November 25, 2020May 21, 2021Leave a comment

Kidney transplant

Every patient with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) or in other words, Kidney failure needs to go on treatments that would “fill the gaps” in the errant functioning of the unwell kidney or completely replace it with healthy functioning. Dialysis is a way to fill the gaps while a Kidney Transplant is a complete replacement.

In our previous article, we explained the bare basics of a Kidney Transplant.

This article covers an outline of what an average pre-transplant preparation for the patient and the kidney donor may entail.

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Infections that cause kidney damage

September 14, 2020May 21, 2021Leave a comment

Infections that cause kidney damage

In these times of the COVID-19 pandemic, several realizations came to the fore. One of them was how unaware, a big chunk of our society is, on how several infections irrespective of where they initially start, can cause kidney damage. Something that resulted in the death of many patients with COVID-19 – a respiratory illness.

So we at Team ATK decided to get to work and compile a comprehensive list of all infectious diseases which can potentially cause kidney damage, even if the initial infection starts elsewhere. Continue reading “Infections that cause kidney damage” →