News

Women’s Health & Pregnancy in Chronic Kidney Disease

Health issues of women do not get as much attention or focus as that of men. Women themselves often ignore symptoms of disease and do not heed warning signs issued by the body. The disparity in access to health care by men and women is proved by statistics which show that the incidence of certain diseases is similar in both men and women, but the percentage of men actually availing treatment is far higher than that of women. Very often, this is the result of the deeply ingrained societal belief that men are superior and bread-winners of the family, and therefore deserve better health care, and even nutrition. With such a situation prevailing, even serious and life threatening conditions go undetected in women.

In the case of kidney disease also, the plight of women is no different. Women are also more likely than men to donate a kidney, while more men than women receive dialysis or undergo kidney transplantation. Even certain government health schemes for the benefit of patients, like free or subsidized treatment or medicines, are utilized more by men than by women. This indicates that expenditure is also not always a criterion for women being denied adequate health care.

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Post Transplant Care & Relevance of Tac levels

Patients have many doubts regarding post-transplant care, especially with regard to ‘tac level’, a concept encountered during post-transplant follow-up. KWF organized a session on 4th September, 2020, with Dr. Vijay Kher, Chairman, Nephrology, Medanta Kidney & Urology Institute, New Delhi, to address concerns and queries related to maintaining tac level. The session was moderated by Maryann Manasseh.

At the outset, Dr. Vijay establishes that kidney transplant is the best treatment for kidney failure, by providing statistics for the survival of transplant patients in comparison to patients on dialysis. A transplant provides the best long-term outcome in terms of improving the quality of life and being cost-effective.

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Potassium – The ‘King’ by Suneetha Rao, Chief Dietician, NU Hospitals, Bengaluru

Potassium is an important mineral, and a key component of diet, that has various functions. The most important function of potassium is regulating the heartbeat. Abnormal potassium level will require immediate management with medication, while long term management can be done by modification in diet.

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Sodium – the Key Trouble Maker by Uma Maheswari, Consultant Dietician

This video deals with the relationship between salt and kidney disease and how restricted salt intake can help maintain kidney function in patients with CKD.

Ms. Uma describes the problems caused by excess sodium and how to regulate sodium levels in the blood by controlling the intake of salt. She demonstrates how salt can be measured to restrict its intake, and shows how the right quantity of salt can be used to make food tasty. Ms. Uma cautions us to read the labels of packaged foods to understand the quantity of sodium they contain. She emphasizes the need to control sodium intake to ensure kidney health, which in turn will prevent damage to the heart and lungs.

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Phosphorus – An Important Mineral by Suneetha Rao, Chief Dietician, NU Hospitals, Bengaluru

Ms. Suneetha talks about the management of phosphorus that has many functions. She shows us how a higher consumption of phosphorus rich food affects the body, resulting in bone disease.  Watch the video to understand the correlation between calcium and phosphorus, and the role of the parathyroid hormone in maintaining their balance.

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KWF launches a series of videos focusing on Diet Management in CKD.

KWF felt the pressing need to disseminate the information in our book Nutritional Secrets among a wider audience, so that a larger number of patients and caregivers can benefit from the abundant information it contains. To achieve this goal, Nutritional Secrets is being shared in the form of a series of videos, where dieticians and experts speak about the different components of a diet suitable for kidney patients. The series begins with a video featuring an Introduction, followed by a Promotion showing the usability of the book, and goes on to present information about the various elements of a diet, namely, macronutrients and micronutrients such as Protein and Carbohydrates, Sodium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Fluid, Fiber and Fats.

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Genetic Kidney Diseases: Early signs and tests

Genetic diseases can affect many members of a family over generations. Learning to catch early signs of the disease can enable effective treatment, since it can help to change the course of the disease or prevent its advancement. In a webinar moderated by Anjali Uthup Kurian, Dr. Sree Bhushan Raju, Professor and Head, Department of Nephrology at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad explained the genetic causes of kidney diseases. Although a difficult area of study, Genetics is important since every aspect of an individual’s external and internal features is determined by his genes. Dr. Raju establishes that having a family history of diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, are genetic risk factors along with obesity, race and ethnicity.

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Understanding Biopsy in-and-out

An interesting webinar on the diagnostic procedure known as biopsy was held on September 9, 2020. The guest speaker for the event was Dr. Narayan Prasad, Professor, Department of Nephrology, SGPI, Lucknow, and the event was moderated by Maryann Manasseh and Mr. Anand Lal Banerjee. Dr. Prasad interacted with participants in Hindi and English, explaining in minute detail, going into all the intricacies of the need, process and outcome of a kidney biopsy. He began by showing a video of a biopsy procedure being carried out to demonstrate the precision with which it is conducted.

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