kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
The notion that renal failure is a death sentence should be a thing of the past as patients in T&T are living strong for up to 20 years after being diagnosed with the deadly disease. The message was soothing for those who attended the South West Regional Health Authority’s World Kidney Day function at the San Fernando General Hospital yesterday.
Consultant Nephrologist Dr Sharda Sharma said that there were patients at the renal clinic who have been living well for up to 15 years while undergoing haemodialysis while those who have had transplants are living longer.
There is no cure for renal failure and the key to living a long life after being diagnosed is to adopt a healthy lifestyle, proper monitoring and treatment. Sharma said that from the onset of adulthood, people should get themselves screened as kidney disease was no longer an ailment for the elderly.
Diabetes is the leading cause of chronic kidney disease.
There are currently 1000 patients using haemodialysis nationally and 83 using peritoneal dialysis nationwide. However, that figure could increase as she said the renal clinic at the San Fernando General Hospital receives approximately 30 referrals weekly. The clinic has two sessions weekly, seeing up to 150 patients.
The kidney serves to extract waste from the blood, balance body fluids, regulate and filter mineral and create helpful hormones. However, when the nephrons, which are the kidney’s filters, become damaged through injury or toxins, this brings on kidney disease.
Once picked up early, Sharma says treatment and counselling can be administered to slow the progression to chronic kidney disease.
However, because there is no cure, patients eventually have to undergo haemodialysis three times a week.
Haemodialysis is a method where a machine does the job of the kidney. It works by placing a catheter into one of the large veins. Each session ranges between three to four hours and is done for the rest of the patient’s life unless he or she gets a transplant. The most viable transplant comes from a living relative. Sharma said that while it was difficult to get a donor, there had been work going on to increase awareness and education.
World Kidney Day is today.