Kidney Care Community News

I offer medical management without dialysis in cases of advanced chronic kidney disease, but in my early years practicing nephrology, I rarely brought this option up to my patients.

When patients face advanced kidney disease, dialysis and transplantation are usually considered the two likely modality options.

It is clear 2020 was a challenging year for everyone in health care, including those in nephrology.

As nephrologists know, the decline in kidney function is almost always a “silent disease,” and even patients who experience fatigue and low energy often attribute these symptoms to “getting old,” rather than as signs of illness.

Already commercially available in the United Kingdom, the SC+ portable hemodialysis system from Quanta Dialysis Technologies has received 510(k) clearance “setting the stage for [a] U.S. market launch,” according to a press release.

Contending that diversity among health care professionals is essential to providing the highest quality of care, a speaker at the American Society of Transplant Surgeons Winter Symposium outlined challenges and strategies for improvement.

Kidney care organizations and dialysis providers joined the CDC last week in efforts to assure dialysis clinic and transplant center staff that COVID-19 vaccinations are safe for themselves and their patients.

The Frenova division of Fresenius Medical Care has developed an initiative aimed at developing “the largest renal-focused genomic registry in the world,” according to a company press release. The first participants have been enrolled.

The National Kidney Foundation has appointed Chris Jackson as its first chief people officer.

The FDA has granted priority review to Farxiga, from AstraZeneca, for the treatment of chronic kidney disease.