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VIDEO: Managing CKD metabolic acidosis
PHILADELPHIA – Encouraging a healthy diet is an effective way to helping patients with CKD avoid metabolic acidosis, according to a speaker at the ACP Internal Medicine Meeting.
In patients with CKD who have serum bicarbonate below 22 mmol/L, generally occurring in patients with GFR less than 40 mL/min per 1.73 m2, sodium bicarbonate alkali therapy has been shown to preserve kidney function and reduce the need for dialysis, according to Joseph Vassalotti, MD, chief medical officer for the National Kidney Foundation and clinical associate in the department of nephrology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. However, preventive steps should also be taken, he said.
“The major source of acid … is processed meats, so if your patient reduces their intake of processed meats, that may help them,” he said.
In his interview with Healio Primary Care Today, Vassalotti also discussed the management of blood pressure in patients with CKD and the use of SGLT2 inhibitors.
Disclosure: Vassalotti reports being a consultant for Merck.