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Research into diabetic kidney disease

Oklahoma diabetics may be interested to learn that researchers have made a major breakthrough in the understanding of diabetic kidney disease, providing hope for a serious condition that can be fatal. Their findings were published in the journal Diabetes.

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine in New York City studied mice and found that the mitochondira in the endothelial cells of the kidneys in one of the groups became stressed, causing a degenerative oxidative reaction. This reaction eventually lead to kidney failure and end-stage kidney disease.

According to the National Kidney Foundation, around 30 percent of patients with type 1 diabetes and 10 to 40 percent of those with type 2 diabetes eventually develop diabetic kidney disease. The condition is difficult to diagnose in its earliest stages, and the only available treatments are dialysis and kidney transplantation. However, the authors of the study believe their findings represent a breakthrough in the understanding of diabetic kidney disease, which could lead to earlier diagnosis and better treatments for patients.

The earlier diabetic kidney disease is diagnosed, the better it is for a patient’s chances of survival. Patients who have been harmed due to a doctor’s failure to diagnose such a disease may want to meet with an attorney to see what recourse they might have. Not every such failure constitutes actionable medical malpractice, however. An attorney will need to demonstrate that it constituted a failure by the practitioner to exhibit the requisite standard of care, and the opinion testimony of medical experts could be used in this regard.

Source: Science Daily, “Diabetic kidney disease is decoded, offering new avenues for diagnosis and treatment,” Feb. 23, 2017