Kidney Failure

It is a sad fact that – even as prevalent as kidney disease has become in the United States – many Americans have no idea that, albeit silently, their kidney function is deteriorating. As we know, there are often few obvious, outward signs. Genetics and race play a role; but whereas people might be aware that their blood pressure is high, they could stand to lose some weight or that their blood sugars are elevated, not enough individuals know to connect the dots between these medical issues and the functional longevity of their kidneys.

On August 5, the National Kidney Registry announced it will reimburse those who donated a kidney through its paired kidney exchange program for wages lost due to recovery time.

Recent innovations in the management of renal cell carcinoma have helped clinicians preserve the kidney during surgery and with it, kidney function for their patients. Ketan K. Badani, MD, professor of urology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital and director of the comprehensive kidney cancer program at Mount Sinai Health System in New York, spearheaded one of these advances: the first assistant sparing technique for robotic partial nephrectomy. In an interview with Healio, Badani spoke about the advantages of this technique, the limitations with current robotic nephrectomy, how he handles patient education and more.

From the perspective of policy makers, patient advocates and health care providers, chronic kidney disease and kidney failure present the following series of important questions: