How much does dialysis cost in the UK? A lot. About £20,000 per person per year. Dialysis is a high-cost treatment, with the NHS spending over £600 million per year (£20,000 x 30,000 patients) on dialysis in the UK (over 0.25% of the NHS budget on a rare disease). With the growth in CKD and […]
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What is a horseshoe kidney? A horseshoe kidney, also called renal fusion, is when two kidneys are fused or joined together. They form a shape like a horseshoe. A horseshoe kidney is also in a different location compared to two typical kidneys. It’s located lower in the tummy and closer to the front of your
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What is CKDu (chronic kidney disease of unknown cause)? CKDu means chronic kidney disease of unknown cause. Amongst the many threats to health in our world, the most challenging ones are the ones with unknown causes. There is a mysterious epidemic of kidney disease called chronic kidney disease of unknown aetiology (CKDu) that is occurring
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This is a summary of an interesting recent study on the possible benefits of nuts for CKD patients (Wang, 2023). Why is this important? Nuts have been found to have beneficial effects on some diseases, including cardiovascular disease and cancer, in several studies. However, there are few studies to show the effects of nuts on
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What is CKD (chronic kidney disease)? Keep track of your kidney data with PKB Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a long-term condition where the kidneys do not work as well as they should, or are damaged in some way. It affects 10% of the population. The kidneys are part of the urinary tract. The disease
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What are the most common causes of sepsis? In this article we will describe what are the most common causes of sepsis. A bit of background first. What is sepsis? Sepsis is a rare but serious complication of an infection. It is the body’s extreme response to an infection. It is a life-threatening medical emergency
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Lithium and chronic kidney disease: to stop or not to stop? In a recent paper this question has been debated again (Velani, 2023). Two cases are discussed. Lithium is the first-line treatment as a mood stabiliser in bipolar affective disorder and can prevent suicide in mood disorder. However, lithium therapy in this patient group is
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Itching and chronic kidney disease (CKD) Itching is a persistent and common complaint in more advanced CKD and kidney failure. It can be called CKD-associated pruritus (which means itching), ‘uraemic pruritus’ or ‘renal pruritus’. You may have the urge to scratch, but that actually makes the itching worse. Scratching releases substances that induce itching. There
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Did Mozart die of kidney failure? Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was one of the most prolific and influential composers of the Classical period. Sadly, he died towards the end of his thirty-fifth year, at his rented apartment in Vienna, in 1791. There has been no agreement as to the
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Why does this matter? Pain that occurs during the draining phase of peritoneal dialysis (PD), or drain pain, is an underreported complication of PD. PD drain pain can be in the shoulder, not just the tummy What did this study show? In a recent international study of over 1600 patients on PD, 28 percent had
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