May 4, 2021
One of the biggest challenges is identifying kidney disease in
the early and middle stages, says Prabir Roy-Chaudhury. He works to
emphasize the importance of simple blood and urine tests for
high-risk populations for earlier diagnosis, but also strives for
better treatment once
kidney failure sets in.
He discusses
Prabir Roy-Chaudhury is a professor of medicine in the Division
of Nephrology and Hypertension and co-director of UNC Kidney Center
and specializes in uremic vascular biology.
He brings listeners online with the basics of kidney disease, who’s
at risk, and what’s being done to make treatment better. We need
our kidneys to rid our bodies of toxic byproducts and fluid, he
says. If the kidneys can’t rid us of our byproducts, these uremic
solutes accumulate in the blood and our systems suffer. That’s why
doctors turn to other ways of filtrating these out of our bodies
through dialysis.
That’s also where Dr. Roy-Chaudhury would like to see
improvement. He explains both types of dialysis—hemodialysis and
peritoneal dialysis—describing their strengths and weaknesses. He
adds that “my dream definitely would be for us to be in a slightly
different place” with dialysis. He shares some good news towards
that end: that the American Society of Nephrology has partnered
with the FDA and Health and Human Services to produce public and
private partnerships, such as the Kidney Health Initiative and the
Kidney Innovation Accelerator, to improve these treatments.
Listen in to learn about these exciting projects that hope to
dramatically change the quality of life for patients with kidney
disease.
Episode also available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/30PvU9C