Innovation in the medical field does not always come from the creation of a new drug, the invention of new equipment or the discovery of a new procedure. Sometime it just comes from thinking smarter and using all the tools available to us for their maximum potential.
Personally I find this story site inspiring as it does not necessarily take a doctor or scientist to come up with an idea like this (although it probably did) and shows that anyone with a good idea could probably help. This is the longest kidney transplant chain ever.
Kidney transplants are nothing new. They have been around for a while. Unfortunately there are more people that need kidneys than there are kidneys available. Either one has to wait for the tragic demise of someone who has agreed to donate their organs or rely on a friend, family member or loved one to donate one to you. Enter the kidney transplant chain.
You are willing to donate a kidney to a loved one, but you are incompatible. However, there is a match out there so you donate your kidney to them. Their loved one then donates their kidney to someone else in a kind of pay it forward scenario and eventually someone donates a kidney to your loved one.
This is just what happened in this case. The story was published by the NY Times where 30 people donated kidneys to strangers so their loved one could receive a kidney. Here is the story:-
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/health/lives-forever-linked-through-kidney-transplant-chain-124.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all%3Fsrc%3Dtp&smid=fb-share
As a result, 30 people have had their lives improved and/or saved by being able to receive a kidney and there are 30 less people on the transplant list, which means that those remaining are a little more likely to receive a life changing kidney if one becomes available. Thanks to Dr Goldfarb who drew my attention to this article. Stay well:)
Showing posts with label kidney disease. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kidney disease. Show all posts
Monday, March 5, 2012
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Hope for the future
Recently, a friend posted this link on facebook:-
Stem cells reverse heart disease
Previously, it was believed that when heart muscle died it stayed dead, but it has been proven that heart muscle can be grown back using adult stem cells. This is revolutionary and flies in the face of conventional thinking.
And it got me thinking. Thinking about many things, but one in particular. And that was if this could work no a heart, could it work on another organ? Yes, selfishly I was thinking about the kidney, but in my defence, you do have to look after yourself.
So I started to do some research. Again, the conventional wisdom states that you can't grow new nephrons (the tubules that filter the blood, producing urine.) But that is what they thought of the heart, and now they are growing new heart muscle.
So I wanted to see if there was anywhere that they had managed to isolate kidney stem cell and use them to grow new nephrons. And yes! They have!..... But only in zebrafish. Apparently, adult kidney stem cells disappear in mammals around birth. So what are the options in generating a workable treatment for kidney disease patients?
Well the way I see it there are three options:
Stem cells reverse heart disease
Previously, it was believed that when heart muscle died it stayed dead, but it has been proven that heart muscle can be grown back using adult stem cells. This is revolutionary and flies in the face of conventional thinking.
And it got me thinking. Thinking about many things, but one in particular. And that was if this could work no a heart, could it work on another organ? Yes, selfishly I was thinking about the kidney, but in my defence, you do have to look after yourself.
So I started to do some research. Again, the conventional wisdom states that you can't grow new nephrons (the tubules that filter the blood, producing urine.) But that is what they thought of the heart, and now they are growing new heart muscle.
So I wanted to see if there was anywhere that they had managed to isolate kidney stem cell and use them to grow new nephrons. And yes! They have!..... But only in zebrafish. Apparently, adult kidney stem cells disappear in mammals around birth. So what are the options in generating a workable treatment for kidney disease patients?
Well the way I see it there are three options:
- Find adult stem cells in the kidney. Just because nobody has found them yet doesn't mean they are not there. The whole body replaces itself every 60 days. Something must be there to replace kidney cells. Scientists believe in the possibility too, or they wouldn't still be looking.
- Manipulate other adult stem cells to behave like adult kidney stem cells. Researchers have tried using bone marrow stem cells to repair heart muscle with some success. The potential is there for kidneys too.
- Embryonic stem cells. However, the research here has a long way to go and is fraught with ethical issues and opposition
There was one other thing I was quite encouraged about with the zebrafish study. Stem cells were harvested from one fish and successfully donated to another. This means that the stem cells from the donor, that carry the donors DNA would now be working in the host.
So hypothetically, if I got a donation of kidney stem cells from a donor that didn't have cystinuria, my kidney would cease to filter cysteine and my disease would subside (theoretically). There would be potential complications though, as with any allergenic transplant. Rejection for example.
However, fellow cystinurics and kidney disease sufferers. Don't start celebrating just yet, a workable treatment is still years away before it will even make it to trial. At least we know that the research is moving in the right direction and one day, there will be a workable treatment that will be effective and give us some normality to our lives, and even if it is not there for us, it could be there for our children. Until next time, stay well:)
Ps. here is the article on the fish research study:-
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Nephrology done
I like to go and see my nephrologist. He is realistic, honest and punctual. Punctual? I hear you say. Yes, you heard it right. I have been seeing him for over five years now and he has never been more than five minutes late. But that is not what I like most about him.
What I like most about him is that he brings out the best in me. When I first started seeing him he gave me a list of instructions and then asked me whether or not such a thing would be feasible, because if I wasn't going to do it then we should find another treatment regime. This is one of the few times I have liked a doctor right from the start.
The nephrologist I was seeing before this one basically laid down the law saying that this is what I had to do and there was no way around it. He even gave me instructions that I knew I was never going to follow. In the end it put me on a mini self destruct pattern as I would show him by not following his instructions. I ended up only hurting myself.
But my new doctor is great. Instead of feeling like the naughty school boy kept back for detention with Dame Snap. I feel like I am part of a partnership, working together to achieve a common goal. The doc puts some suggestions on the table, and we discuss them in a civilised, intelligent manner. We then decide if it will fit in with my life style, and if it does, away we go.
On the down side he does insist I do a 24 hour urine collection every six months which aren't much fun, but hey, when you have an illness sometimes you've gotta do what you gotta do. Another plus was that he understood exactly why I wanted to do the stem cell transplant. He even wrote a letter to the doctors at Northwestern saying, and I quote "There is no renal contra-indication to an autologous stem cell transplant."
What a champion. If only it was always that easy. Until next time, stay well:)
What I like most about him is that he brings out the best in me. When I first started seeing him he gave me a list of instructions and then asked me whether or not such a thing would be feasible, because if I wasn't going to do it then we should find another treatment regime. This is one of the few times I have liked a doctor right from the start.
The nephrologist I was seeing before this one basically laid down the law saying that this is what I had to do and there was no way around it. He even gave me instructions that I knew I was never going to follow. In the end it put me on a mini self destruct pattern as I would show him by not following his instructions. I ended up only hurting myself.
But my new doctor is great. Instead of feeling like the naughty school boy kept back for detention with Dame Snap. I feel like I am part of a partnership, working together to achieve a common goal. The doc puts some suggestions on the table, and we discuss them in a civilised, intelligent manner. We then decide if it will fit in with my life style, and if it does, away we go.
On the down side he does insist I do a 24 hour urine collection every six months which aren't much fun, but hey, when you have an illness sometimes you've gotta do what you gotta do. Another plus was that he understood exactly why I wanted to do the stem cell transplant. He even wrote a letter to the doctors at Northwestern saying, and I quote "There is no renal contra-indication to an autologous stem cell transplant."
What a champion. If only it was always that easy. Until next time, stay well:)
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Artificial Kidneys
The following link was forwarded to me by a friend that I think anyone with kidney problems may find interesting. I know I have a few fellow cystinuiric patients reading my blog, you will surely be interested. But it is still early days, and I can't see this being preferential to transplantation for a long time to come.
Enjoy.
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