From St. Louis Dispatch, Dr. Fox Q & A
Polycystic kidney disease claims a young cat
We had her groomed and shaved for summer, and after losing her long coat, we noticed she was thin. She vomited the next week, quit eating and drinking and hid from us. This was not like her personality.
She was the runt of a rescue litter and always small. I took her to the vet, and he thought she had a virus. Antibiotics did not help. Blood work was drawn on the third week, and she was already in the “red zone” for kidney failure and dehydration. She would not drink and ate only a small amount of wet food. She was put on IV fluids, but they did not help.
She continued to lose weight weekly and was finally diagnosed with PKD when her levels had elevated to almost the end of the red zone, renal failure. She became very weak, and I had her euthanized. Please enlighten and educate your readers and me on this terrible disease. She was a rescue black cat, breed unknown, but had moderately long hair. Thank you for your column. —P.K., St. Louis
Dear P.K. • My sincere condolences for your loss. It was indeed a sad ordeal for both you and your young cat.
This condition is a degenerative disease of the kidneys that is a genetic defect prevalent in some breeds, such as Persians, but not uncommon in the more genetically diverse cat population. Some genetic diseases are self-limiting, afflicting animals before they reach breeding age, which prevents transmission to offspring. Regrettably, this is not the case with polycystic kidney disease.
Some veterinarians have done kidney transplants from healthy donor cats from shelters, and with the addition of immunosuppressant drugs to help stop rejection, some cats have had some life extension. In my opinion, aside from the costs, there are ethical considerations for both donor and recipient animals that lead me to not endorse such transplants. For humans, it is a lifesaver, but cats are not good candidates.
Kidney Dialysis
From Digital Journal, Press Release
Fresenius Medical Care North America, manufacturer of the dialysis drugs GranuFlo and NaturaLyte, has recalled 56 lots of NaturaLyte due to finding higher bacteria levels than allowed by internal specifications. The company is involved in litigation in a Massachusetts federal court where more than 1,700 lawsuits have been filed in conjunction with a previous recall. (In Re: Fresenius GranuFlo/NaturaLyte Dialysate Litigation, MDL No. 2428)
On May 21, 2014, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a safety alert announcing the latest NaturaLyte recall. According to the alert, unacceptable levels of the Halamonas bacteria had been found and the affected drugs should be immediately taken out of use. (fda.gov/safety/medwatch/safetyinformation/safetyalertsforhumanmedicalproducts/ucm398553.htm, May 21, 2014)
GranuFlo and NaturaLyte are both used to neutralize blood acid levels in patients suffering from kidney failure. GranuFlo is a powder and NaturaLyte is a liquid. At the FDA's insistence, Fresenius issued a recall in March 2012 for both products after it was revealed they posed a significant risk of causing cardiac arrest in patients. The New York Times published an article stating that Fresenius circulated an internal memo on Nov. 4, 2011 that more than 900 patients being treated at dialysis centers owned by the company had suffered cardiac arrest the previous year. The two products contain high levels of bicarbonate, which were linked to the higher risk of cardiac arrest. (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/15/health/fda-investigates-fresenius-for-failure-to-warn-of-risk.html?_r=0)
According to court documents, plaintiffs' representatives have filed more than 1,700 lawsuits in the U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts alleging their clients suffered harm due to use of GranuFlo and NaturaLyte. In the lawsuits, plaintiffs allege that Fresenius chose not to alert thousands of dialysis centers not owned by Fresenius about the risks, and that the communications to Fresenius clinics were inadequate. (In Re: Fresenius GranuFlo/NaturaLyte Dialysate Litigation, MDL No. 2428). [Read more]
Gift of Life
From ABC News, by Ely Brown via Nightline
It’s Sunday afternoon, and Dr. Jayme Locke, director of the Incompatible Kidney Transplant Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical Center, is preparing for a marathon.
“We are going to be doing 14 operations this week,” she said, checking in on her patients.
Sprinkled among the rooms up on the eighth floor are patients waiting to receive the gift of life -- a new kidney. Also among the patients are the living donors bearing those gifts, people who are willingly giving up one of their two kidneys to help a stranger.
“We are anxious, all of us are, to hear the story of our recipient,” said Pastor Derek Lambert, one of the donors. “I don’t know if this is perhaps a young mother who’s feared leaving her kids, or a young man who is unable to provide for the needs of his family and this would give these types of individuals a new lease on life.”
They are all part of an intricate living donor kidney transplant chain that began last December. By the end of the week, 21 patients will have received kidney transplants making it the longest, on-going, single-institution chain in the country. The catch? In order to receive a kidney from a stranger, each recipient must have someone in their life willing to donate a kidney to a stranger in their honor to keep the chain going.
For donor Courtney McLaughlin, the decision to donate in her cousin’s honor was easy. “She’s been on a waiting list for a deceased donor for years and with no end in sight, and we’ve been on this list for three months and here we are,” she said.
More than 100,000 Americans are currently in need of a kidney transplant. For some, the wait for a kidney from a deceased donor can stretch as long as eight to 10 years. These living donor kidney chains can expand the pool of both donors and recipients and have the possibility of shortening wait times to just months. They also can provide recipients with more compatible matches and younger organs.
A year ago, Katelyn Pickel, an 18-year-old high school student, suddenly became severely ill, wound up on dialysis and required a kidney transplant. Her father Earl was a potential match for her, but by the two of them joining the chain, two things happened: Katelyn received a kidney from a much younger donor, and someone else waiting on the list was able to receive her father’s kidney.
“I have prayed to God that he would send an answer to my child. And He has,” Earl Pickel said. “How can I refuse someone else when somebody stepped up for me?”
Mickey Little had suffered from a rare kidney disease for more than a decade and he had become dependent on dialysis that kept him tied up to a machine for 8 hours every night. A previous transplant that failed after just a few days had left him with a less than one percent chance of finding a match. It took a while, but Dr. Locke was able to find him not only a match, but a perfect one.
“I won’t be restricted because of dialysis,” Little said. “I should be back to a normal life again which is amazing to me.’
“[He] certainly beat the odds,” said Dr. Locke. “He found his one in a million.”
Click on the infographic below explaining UAB's kidney donation chain to see a larger version. Story continues on Page 2 after the jump. [Read more]
Last semester, Jennifer Adams asked her community college English class to write personal essays. When one of her students wrote about the day her kidneys failed, the teacher decided to donate one of her own.
Doing her homework paid off.
A Central New Mexico Community College instructor decided to donate a kidney to a student after she learned about the student's health struggles from an essay homework assignment.
In November, Jennifer Adams asked her English class to write personal essays, KRQE reported.
Melina Hernandez wrote hers about her kidneys.
Hernandez explained that she had felt sick for about six months before she finally went to the ER in 2010.
Doctors told her both her kidneys were failing. They put her on dialysis, and she's been waiting for a transplant ever since.
In her essay Hernandez wrote about the shock of learning her health was failing and how she continues to fight to stay alive, mostly for her 7-year-old daughter.
"After I heard the essay, of course, it was emotional hearing about somebody's hardships like that," Adams told the TV station.
The teacher immediately felt a special bond with her student.
"She was a genuine, honest, caring person," she said. "She was a mother, and I'm a mother."
Adams had to help.[Read more]
From Ledger-Enquirer, Columbus, Georgia, BY ALVA JAMES-JOHNSON
Couple raising money for kidney transplant
The love story brewed at Starbucks.
Michael Grant was a shift supervisor at the store on Bradley Park, and Shelby Harrell a barista.
They shared a love for biology, and Harrell was drawn to Grant's life-long battle with kidney failure. One of the first things she noticed was the bulging fistula on his arm, the result of a surgical procedure that prepared his vein for dialysis. Most people thought it was weird, which made Grant self-conscious. But Harrell found it intriguing.
"Right away people were like, 'Look at this, look at his arm,'" Harrell said. "And I was the only one there who was like, 'That's so cool. That's awesome. How does that work?'"
From there, Grant, now 28, and Harrell, 23, became friends, and now they are engaged to be married.
But they're also preoccupied with finding Grant a kidney, and raising $10,000 for the surgery.
Three months ago, the couple started a Go Fund Me web page to tell Grant's story and solicit donations. So far they've raised $2,690. The Georgia Transplant Foundation has set up an account for the donations and will match up to $10,000, Grant said. However, the couple said they'll need more than that to cover their expenses. Grant, who has already had two kidney transplants, said his surgery will cost almost $1 million, not to mention all the trips he'll have to make to Emory for treatment and the cost of medication.
"My insurance company should cover most of it, but with that high of a price tag, covering 80 percent still leaves me with a lot of extra medical bills," he said. "There's a lot of lost income that this will help offset." [Read more]
A Central New Mexico Community College instructor decided to donate a kidney to a student after she learned about the student's health struggles from an essay homework assignment.
In November, Jennifer Adams asked her English class to write personal essays, KRQE reported.
Melina Hernandez wrote hers about her kidneys.
Hernandez explained that she had felt sick for about six months before she finally went to the ER in 2010.
Doctors told her both her kidneys were failing. They put her on dialysis, and she's been waiting for a transplant ever since.
In her essay Hernandez wrote about the shock of learning her health was failing and how she continues to fight to stay alive, mostly for her 7-year-old daughter.
"After I heard the essay, of course, it was emotional hearing about somebody's hardships like that," Adams told the TV station.
The teacher immediately felt a special bond with her student.
"She was a genuine, honest, caring person," she said. "She was a mother, and I'm a mother."
Adams had to help.[Read more]
The love story brewed at Starbucks.
Michael Grant was a shift supervisor at the store on Bradley Park, and Shelby Harrell a barista.
They shared a love for biology, and Harrell was drawn to Grant's life-long battle with kidney failure. One of the first things she noticed was the bulging fistula on his arm, the result of a surgical procedure that prepared his vein for dialysis. Most people thought it was weird, which made Grant self-conscious. But Harrell found it intriguing.
"Right away people were like, 'Look at this, look at his arm,'" Harrell said. "And I was the only one there who was like, 'That's so cool. That's awesome. How does that work?'"
From there, Grant, now 28, and Harrell, 23, became friends, and now they are engaged to be married.
But they're also preoccupied with finding Grant a kidney, and raising $10,000 for the surgery.
Three months ago, the couple started a Go Fund Me web page to tell Grant's story and solicit donations. So far they've raised $2,690. The Georgia Transplant Foundation has set up an account for the donations and will match up to $10,000, Grant said. However, the couple said they'll need more than that to cover their expenses. Grant, who has already had two kidney transplants, said his surgery will cost almost $1 million, not to mention all the trips he'll have to make to Emory for treatment and the cost of medication.
"My insurance company should cover most of it, but with that high of a price tag, covering 80 percent still leaves me with a lot of extra medical bills," he said. "There's a lot of lost income that this will help offset." [Read more]
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