Let’s Take a Look at Your Kidneys - BMC Series blog

Let’s Take a Look at Your Kidneys - BMC Series blog

Daphne Knicely

Dr. Daphne Harrington Knicely is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Daphne is committed to medical education with involvement in multiple teaching programs at Johns Hopkins. Daphne has a special interest in patient education and outcomes and is the co-director of patient education within the Division of Nephrology at Johns Hopkins. She helped establish the Johns Hopkins Nephrology Patient Education Program and is dedicated to improving kidney disease awareness. Daphne is a member of several committees for the National Kidney Foundation serving Maryland and Delaware and has special expertise in diabetic kidney disease, solitary kidney, and renal replacement therapy. Dr. Knicely joined the BMC Nephrology editorial board in October 2019 as a Blog Editor for the journal.

Let’s Take a Look at Your Kidneys

In a recent BMC Nephrology, an article by Li et al. examines using 3-D ultrasound and contrast-enhanced ultrasound to diagnose diabetic nephropathy. Diabetic nephropathy is the most common complication of diabetes, so in our next BMC Nephrology blog, Blog Editor Dr. Daphne Knicely will discuss how these technologies could be game-changers in the care of diabetic patients.

Daphne Knicely 14 Jul 2020

Figure 2 from publication

The number one cause of chronic kidney disease and end-stage kidney disease is diabetes, and the gold standard for diagnosing any kidney disease is through biopsy. Unfortunately, kidney biopsies are not without risks, and although minimal, there is a risk of bleeding and damaging the kidney further by performing this invasive procedure. In addition, some patients cannot have a kidney biopsy when they truly need one because of other comorbidities, anti-coagulant medications, and other factors that make them high risk for complications. Usually for patients with diabetes that present no other concerning findings, the nephrologist might assume its diabetic nephropathy, a complication of diabetes, without performing a kidney biopsy.  Could they be making a mistake?  It might be something else that is treatable.  Is there another test we could do?  What if there was an alternative for diagnosing diabetic nephropathy that is noninvasive and low risk?