#kidney Archives - All Things Kidney ~ Official

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?

Continue reading “COVID19 Vaccines vs Evusheld ® vs Mask: What works the best in Immunocompromised?” →

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.

Continue reading “Kidney Transplant: Hospital Recovery after the Surgery” →

Kidney Transplant Complications

July 8, 2021July 13, 2021Leave a comment

Kidney Transplant saves precious lives. But it also qualifies as a major surgery involving complicated procedures. This holds true for both the donor kidney retrieval surgery and implantation of the donor kidney into the recipient (patient). Quite naturally, both surgeries may entail risks / possible complications during and after the procedures, both in the short & long term. It is these possible risks/complications of Kidney Transplant are what we aim to walk you through, today.

We will first cover the risk-profile associated with Kidney Donation followed by that for the Kidney Recipient. The article presents the list of complications as per the time points at which they usually appear after the surgery. Read on to get a comprehensive insight on the what-why-how of these complications below.

NOTE: This article only covers complications from the kidney transplant procedure. Adverse effects expected from anti-rejection & other medications that a kidney recipient is put on, will be explained in a separate article.

Continue reading “Kidney Transplant Complications” →

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:

Continue reading “Kidney Transplant: The Operation” →

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.

Continue reading “Kidney Transplant: Before the surgery – II” →

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.

Continue reading “Kidney Transplant: Before the surgery – I” →

Kidney Transplant – Basics

November 4, 2020May 21, 2021Leave a comment

What is kidney transplant?
Who needs a kidney transplant?
Who can be a kidney donor?
Kidney transplant vs Dialysis for life
What is pre-emptive kidney transplant?
Who makes up your kidney transplant care team?

1. What is Kidney Transplant?

Kidneys are essential for sustaining life. Individuals who end up with very little or almost no kidney function, either due to an incurable disease, birth defect or extensive injury, require a solution to regain/assist with their kidney function. Kidney Transplant is one of the methods to do so.

This involves a surgical procedure of “transferring” a healthy, matched kidney from a willing donor to “implant” it in the belly of the patient requiring the organ. Hence the name, Transplant.

Here, the donor kidney is securely removed with Continue reading “Kidney Transplant – Basics” →

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” →

High Blood Pressure in CKD

June 17, 2020May 21, 2021Leave a comment

High blood pressure is almost always present at the time of diagnosing Chronic Kidney Disease. And as time passes during your CKD journey, controlling your blood pressure becomes an essential part of your treatment plan to delay kidney failure.

But why does your blood pressure rise in chronic kidney disease in the first place?!

That, and the basics that you must understand about high blood pressure in CKD is what today’s storytelling is about.

Continue reading “High Blood Pressure in CKD” →

Blood Pressure Essentials

June 17, 2020May 21, 2021Leave a comment

High blood pressure is almost always present at the time of diagnosing Chronic Kidney Disease. And as time passes during your CKD journey, controlling your BP becomes an essential part of your treatment plan to delay kidney failure.

But why do you get high BP in chronic kidney disease in the first place?!

For that let us first take you through all the essential facts that you must grasp about the whole concept of Blood Pressure.

Knowing this will help you master your understanding of what goes wrong with your BP regulation systems and to what extent, when CKD hits.

So, let’s begin then, shall we?

Continue reading “Blood Pressure Essentials” →

Tag: #kidney

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

So what works the best?

Kidney Transplant: Hospital Recovery after the Surgery

Kidney Transplant Complications

Kidney Transplant: The Operation

Kidney Transplant: Before the surgery – II

Kidney Transplant: Before the surgery – I

Kidney Transplant – Basics

Contents

1. What is Kidney Transplant?

Infections that cause kidney damage

High Blood Pressure in CKD

But why does your blood pressure rise in chronic kidney disease in the first place?!

Blood Pressure Essentials

But why do you get high BP in chronic kidney disease in the first place?!

So, let’s begin then, shall we?