Kidney Disease

Kidney disease affects about 20 million Americans, many of whom end up on dialysis. But there may be a way to identify and treat severe cases earlier in the course of the disease. In a study published Friday, researchers said that measuring a hormone called FGF-23 can predict which patients will end up needing dialysis. The hormone, fibroblast growth factor-23, was discovered fairly recently and has attracted a lot of attention from researchers for its crucial role in regulating phosphorus in the body.

Carla Wensky came to her father last year for a word of advice. The woman from the small Wyoming town of Powell wanted to donate something she said she didn't really need, that she could live without. One of her kidneys. Wensky's good friend of 10 years, Kelly Eckerdt, had a kidney disease, and without a transplant or dialysis, she eventually would die. Wensky said she couldn't let that happen. That's when she asked her father about giving one of her organs away. “I said, 'Oh, no, please don't do that,' ” Ralph Wensky told The Times.

Dr. William B. Schwartz, a renowned kidney disease specialist and researcher who later turned his attention to health policy and began sounding a warning in the 1980s that rising healthcare costs would force America to begin rationing medical care, has died. He was 86. Schwartz, an emeritus professor of medicine at USC, died March 15 at his home in Los Angeles of Alzheimer's disease, said his wife, Tressa Ruslander Miller.

New Mexico lawyer Arlon Stoker calls the case the most obvious example of mistaken identity, color blindness or just plain meanness, and most likely all of the above. Stoker has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque on behalf of an elderly Native American couple and their three grandchildren who were pulled over at gunpoint in March by six New Mexico law enforcement officers searching for a car thief. The stop took place near the small community of Farmington. The driver, William Mike, who is 67 and suffers from chronic kidney disease and diabetes, was ordered to kneel on the cold, wet pavement while he was handcuffed, according to the suit.

The National Kidney Foundation and state Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles) have teamed up to heighten awareness of kidney disease among African Americans and Latinos. The effort comes on the heels of reports that African Americans and Latinos suffer from kidney disease at higher rates than whites. Large rates of high blood pressure and diabetes among those two groups are major contributors to the gap, the studies indicate.

The event: The 15th annual "Great Chefs of Orange County" benefit for the National Kidney Foundation of Southern California. The afternoon soiree at the Sutton Place Hotel in Newport Beach offered 600 guests the opportunity to sample the signature dishes of chefs from more than 20 Orange County restaurants. Tempting tidbits: Mouthwatering aromas whetted guests' appetites as they lined up to savor both the flavorful food and the chefs' artful presentations.

Thousand Oaks-based Amgen has launched a Web site--http://www.RenalAdvances.com--that caters to the clinical and informational needs of the health-care community involved with kidney treatment. The site offers access to news and information as well as clinical management tools. The company said the site is poised to become the premier online destination for health-care professionals specializing in kidney disease.

Long-term users of the banned painkiller phenacetin are 16 times more likely than others to die of urologic or kidney disease, according to a Swiss study that some researchers believe should prompt study of the popular analgesic, acetaminophen. The study, published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, followed more than 1,000 Swiss women over 20 years.

Golf addict Cheech Marin said he came for his fix, but he and more than a dozen other celebrities also were motivated by a higher goal: kidney disease research. Marin, Jack Nicholson, Marcus Allen and others put their love for golf and children on display at the fourth annual Hard Rock Cafe Celebrity Golf Tournament at Sherwood Country Club Monday. In the process, they raised about $370,000 for children's kidney research, said Sterling Ball, the event's organizer.

Endocare Inc. in Irvine, signaling the commercial expansion of its cryoablation technology, announced Tuesday the launch of that technique for the treatment of kidney disease. The technique selectively freezes and destroys diseased kidney tissue in place, as opposed to the current standard of treatment which involves invasive surgery and removal of affected tissue.

Since ancient times, surgeons have dreamed of transplanting healthy organs into patients disabled by disease and injury, but the human body's powerful immune system stymied all such attempts, leading many observers to conclude that the procedure was impossible. But on Dec. 23, 1954, Dr. Joseph E. Murray of Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston removed a healthy kidney from 23-year-old Ronald Herrick and implanted it in his identical twin, Richard, who was dying of severe kidney disease.

Paula Deen came out last week. The cookbook author and television personality, known for her enthusiasm for high-fat and fried foods, has been a closet diabetic for three years — and for the moment, she's the chef we love to hate, having seduced us with unhealthful recipes on the one hand while she checked her blood sugar with the other. But she's also a distraction, and the media storm surrounding the news of her illness is exactly the sort of publicity bonanza the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk must have dreamed of when it hired Deen to be the spokesperson for its new marketing campaign.

Kidney disease affects about 20 million Americans, many of whom end up on dialysis. But there may be a way to identify and treat severe cases earlier in the course of the disease. In a study published Friday, researchers said that measuring a hormone called FGF-23 can predict which patients will end up needing dialysis. The hormone, fibroblast growth factor-23, was discovered fairly recently and has attracted a lot of attention from researchers for its crucial role in regulating phosphorus in the body.

Back pain — can't live with it, can't live without it. That is, it's no fun to live with back pain, but the chances of living your whole life without it are pretty much nil. About 80% of Americans suffer from the condition at some point, so if you've never had your back act up or seize up or go out ... well ... just you wait. This explains why, in the U.S., back pain is the second most-frequent reason to go to the doctor — right after the common cold. But here's the rub. In spite of all the knowledge and skill and experience and dedication your doctor may possess, not to mention all the high-tech diagnostic tools that can be brought to bear on your case, there's a good chance you'll never find out exactly what's wrong with your back.

Lupus drug Benlysta -- and its recent approval by the FDA -- is not run-of-the-mill news. Sometimes federal approval of new drugs doesn't garner much attention, but Benlysta is the first new drug to treat lupus in more than 50 years. And for people with lupus, that's quite a development. Bear in mind: It's not a cure; there isn't one. But the drug holds promise and hope for the estimated 1.5 million people in the U.S. who have some form of the autoimmune disease.   RELATED: FDA approves first new treatment for lupus in five decades The blog "The Life of a 20-Something With Lupus" provides a window into how debilitating the condition can be. "I'm just a normal 28 year old woman ... except for the fact that I have Lupus," writes its author, known as Miz Flow.

A 50-year-old with Type 2 diabetes will lose an average of six years of life as a result of the disease, only one less than would be lost by a long-term smoker of the same age, researchers reported Wednesday. He or she is more than twice as likely to die of cardiovascular disease as someone without diabetes and 25% more likely to die of cancer, according to the report, an international study of more than 820,000 people published in the New England Journal of Medicine. People with Type 2 diabetes are also more likely to die from kidney disease, liver disease, pneumonia, infectious diseases and even intentional self-harm, according to the study, which was conducted by the Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration, based at the University of Cambridge in England.

California and Utah researchers have succeeded in preventing one form of kidney disease in rats, potentially opening the door to prevention of kidney failure in humans. The disease, called glomerulonephritis, is one of the most common causes of chronic kidney failure, afflicting as many as 100,000 Americans each year. Once the kidney fails, the patients must either receive a transplant or remain on dialysis for the rest of their lives.

A commonly used heart drug can halve the risk of death, dialysis or kidney transplants resulting from kidney disease among diabetics, dramatically improving their quality of life and significantly reducing the cost of medical care, researchers reported Wednesday. An estimated 30% of the 14 million diabetic Americans will develop kidney disease, so the new treatment has the potential to significantly alter the treatment of tens of thousands of patients every year, said Dr. Edmund J.

A 50-year-old with Type 2 diabetes will lose an average of six years of life as a result of the disease, only one less than would be lost by a long-term smoker of the same age, researchers reported Wednesday. He or she is more than twice as likely to die of cardiovascular disease as someone without diabetes and 25% more likely to die of cancer, according to the report, an international study of more than 820,000 people published in the New England Journal of Medicine. People with Type 2 diabetes are also more likely to die from kidney disease, liver disease, pneumonia, infectious diseases and even intentional self-harm, according to the study, which was conducted by the Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration, based at the University of Cambridge in England.

What makes the ideal gift this Valentine's Day? Flowers or chocolate? A romantic picnic? How about a kidney? At parties, Angela Balcita tells us in her memoir "Moonface," she and her boyfriend Charlie have a comic routine they tell about how they are joined not at the hip, but at the kidneys. Charlie provided the most unexpected kind of gift ? one of his own kidneys ? to help Balcita, who learned in college that she had glomerulonephritis, a disease that affects how the kidneys filter blood.