Nephrology News

Two nephrologists discussed their reasons for being proponents of either more frequent or incremental hemodialysis at the virtual National Kidney Foundation Spring Clinical Meetings.

Phase 3 results from the AURORA study indicate treatment with the immunosuppressant drug voclosporin was superior to standard of care for achieving renal response rates in patients with lupus nephritis. The results were presented virtually at the National Kidney Foundation Spring Clinical Meetings.

The American Kidney Fund has set up an emergency program to provide financial assistance to low-income patients on dialysis or who have undergone kidney transplantation, a group of patients who can be seriously impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak.

For the first time, nephrology practices can use telehealth devices to conduct visits with patients on dialysis who are treated at outpatient clinics. Previously, federal regulations only allowed such services to be used for patients on home dialysis.

PHOENIX — The metric currently used to evaluate the impact of kidney allocation policies needs to be addressed to ensure a more equitable distribution of organs, according to a speaker at Cutting Edge of Transplantation: Transplant Summit.

During a recent webinar hosted by the Dialysis Patient Citizens Education Center, nephrology experts suggested ways, informed by guidance from the CDC, for patients on dialysis to safely approach COVID-19.

In a March 10 survey of 85 practicing nephrologists, just one nephrologist was treating a patient diagnosed with COVID-19 and 30% of surveyed nephrologists rated the federal government’s handling of the pandemic as unfavorable.

“Apparently healthy” Japanese men who slept less than 6 hours per night were found to have the lowest risk for incident chronic kidney disease during a median follow-up of 7 years.

In response to the novel coronavirus, CMS is supplementing its guidance to dialysis facilities on interacting with patients.

The National Kidney Foundation announced that “out of an abundance of caution” in relation to COVID-19 it will change its 2020 Spring Clinical Meetings, planned for March 26-29 in New Orleans, to a live-virtual meeting.