#kidneytransplant Archives - All Things Kidney ~ Official

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.

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

Poor response to COVID Vaccine in Kidney Patients: Decode the Science-Understand your Options

November 10, 2021December 30, 2021Leave a comment

COVID19 vaccine inoculations are the best possible protection for most health profiles that science offers against this pandemic menace. However, as we know, COVID vaccines in their initially recommended dose schedules proved less effective in immunocompromised individuals. This was irrespective of whether poor immunity resulted from a medical condition or due to immuno-suppressive medication. Patients with advanced Chronic Kidney Disease & Kidney Transplant recipients are a prominent subgroup in this population subset of the “Vaccine Helpless”.

◾ So how did poor immunity in kidney patients impact vaccine effectiveness?

◾ Will repeated immune challenge with extra doses as part of primary vaccine series truly help all kidney patients? How tenable is it?

◾ Any better alternatives to garner adequate immune protection for our cohort without going overboard with the “immune challenge” and/or inviting side-effects of major concern?

Read on to decode the relevant science and understand your options for adequate immune protection against COVID-19.

(DISCLAIMER: The article is purely a medically feasible insight on current evidence from peer-reviewed scientific literature on COVID-19 vaccine efficiency, its shortcomings & potential relevant alternative pharmacological solutions w.r.t. patients with chronic kidney disease. The intention is to place the facts as they are with due respect to Science. It is not intended to promote any vaccine hesitancy or support anti-vaxxer views. It does not represent any political positioning either.)

Continue reading “Poor response to COVID Vaccine in Kidney Patients: Decode the Science-Understand your Options” →

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” →

Vaccines & Kidney Patients: A Comprehensive Guide

April 25, 2020May 21, 2021Leave a comment

Vaccines are necessary to boost our immune power to effectively ward-off specific infections. They form a crucial part of medically preparing all patients of Chronic Kidney Disease for a kidney transplant surgery as well.

However, patients with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), those with Kidney Failure on Dialysis or Kidney Transplant recipients have a weaker immune system. Since vaccines are basically made of weakened germs or its parts, vaccinating this subset of patients requires caution and clinical supervision.

Continue reading “Vaccines & Kidney Patients: A Comprehensive Guide” →

Breathing Difficulty in Kidney Disease

August 11, 2019May 21, 2021Leave a comment

Breathing Difficulty in Chronic Kidney Disease is an inevitable accompaniment in advanced stages. But why does CKD make you breathless in the first place? Learn here.

The other day, some of us at Team ATK just sat reflecting on our pre-transplant days with Kidney Failure. And we all concurred on the helplessness we felt about that relentless “out-of-breath” sensation even at the slightest exertion. In fact, right after transplant, this was one of the first positive changes that I remember as uplifting my quality of life. I could breathe fully, freely & effortlessly again!

So, what is this “breathlessness” or as the fancy medical terminology would have it, “Dyspnoea” (pronounced as “disp-neah”) in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) all about? Continue reading “Breathing Difficulty in Kidney Disease” →

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