Doctors at UCSF have developed a new system for getting people off dialysis treatment. As part of a study started almost a decade ago, some patients were told to stop treatment to see if their kidneys could recover on their own. “The kidney has a remarkable ability to recover, to regain some kidney health,” said Dr. Chi-yuan Hsu, the chief of nephrology at UCSF. “I came up with this idea when I was seeing patients. It was like 10 years ago. So, then we thought, ‘Why don’t we try it out?'”One of the first recipients was Marla Levy, who had experienced acute kidney failure after severe complications from heart surgery. She was born with a heart defect, and when she was 41, she needed a new valve. She thought that would be a routine surgery, but there were other issues when it was done. She needed more surgeries to stabilize her heart.”They end up doing a total of six bypasses between the two surgeries,” she said. “The oxygenator that they put you on during surgery couldn’t get going; my heart wouldn’t start.”She ended up being in the ICU for weeks recovering. She says she was on the most advanced form of life support, which helped her lungs and heart keep going, but it came at the expense of her kidneys. She would need to go on dialysis. “It’s a trauma to your kidneys that’s immediate,” she said. “Like a car crash or a drug.”She would spend time at an outpatient clinic receiving treatment, but her body was not responding well. “The first two sessions, they had put me in such extreme fluid overload that I had to be re-hospitalized,” she said. “I had six pounds of extra blood in me.” She asked doctors at UCSF to re-evaluate her condition. That is when Hsu suggested she go off dialysis. “There are different trials to test different doses of dialyzes you should give during acute kidney injuries,” Hsu said. “This is the first trial that talked about how to stop dialysis.” Levy has needed dialysis for 12 years. Hsu said he wants to see other health institutes repeat the study he did and thinks it could help more patients who are receiving dialysis. See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
Doctors at UCSF have developed a new system for getting people off dialysis treatment. As part of a study started almost a decade ago, some patients were told to stop treatment to see if their kidneys could recover on their own.
“The kidney has a remarkable ability to recover, to regain some kidney health,” said Dr. Chi-yuan Hsu, the chief of nephrology at UCSF. “I came up with this idea when I was seeing patients. It was like 10 years ago. So, then we thought, ‘Why don’t we try it out?'”
One of the first recipients was Marla Levy, who had experienced acute kidney failure after severe complications from heart surgery. She was born with a heart defect, and when she was 41, she needed a new valve. She thought that would be a routine surgery, but there were other issues when it was done. She needed more surgeries to stabilize her heart.
“They end up doing a total of six bypasses between the two surgeries,” she said. “The oxygenator that they put you on during surgery couldn’t get going; my heart wouldn’t start.”
She ended up being in the ICU for weeks recovering. She says she was on the most advanced form of life support, which helped her lungs and heart keep going, but it came at the expense of her kidneys. She would need to go on dialysis.
“It’s a trauma to your kidneys that’s immediate,” she said. “Like a car crash or a drug.”
She would spend time at an outpatient clinic receiving treatment, but her body was not responding well.
“The first two sessions, they had put me in such extreme fluid overload that I had to be re-hospitalized,” she said. “I had six pounds of extra blood in me.”
She asked doctors at UCSF to re-evaluate her condition. That is when Hsu suggested she go off dialysis.
“There are different trials to test different doses of dialyzes you should give during acute kidney injuries,” Hsu said. “This is the first trial that talked about how to stop dialysis.”
Levy has needed dialysis for 12 years.
Hsu said he wants to see other health institutes repeat the study he did and thinks it could help more patients who are receiving dialysis.
See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
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