Friday, May 29, 2015

How One Doctor Helps Diabetes Patients Avoid Kidney Dialysis

Kidney failure is one of the most dreaded diseases. Even when one knows, it is coming, there is not much that one can do. Mainstream treatment normally means dialysis or transplant. Both are expensive and very taxing on the patient. Not to mention the difficulty of finding right donor in time. Economic cost of Dialysis in India would be about Rs 2-3 lakhs per year.

There are specific interventions, such as limiting salt in the diet, that can help prevent the progression of kidney disease in people who have the early signs.

Dr. de Boer often sees type 2 diabetes patients after signs of kidney trouble have surfaced. They may have very large amounts of protein in their urine (a marker of kidney disease), which is evidence of moderately impaired kidney function or difficult-to-control hypertension.

One particular patient, a man in his mid-50s, had all of the above. At 30 ml/min, his glomerular filtration rate, or GFR—a measure of kidney function—suggested he already had moderate to severe damage. He had a large amount of protein in his urine, poorly controlled hypertension, and poorly controlled blood sugar.

"His disease was clearly progressive by his recent history," Dr. de Boer explains. "When he learned that he was heading toward dialysis in the next year or less, that was a bit of a shock to him, and it actually motivated him to make a lot of changes."

kidneyhospitalabroad@hotmail.com

No comments:

Post a Comment

Any questions? Fill the form below. You'll surely get our reply very soon.