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Our internal organs are vital for our health and wellbeing. The heart and lungs have always been big players in the research arena, but how much do you really know about your kidneys? Come along tonight to learn more about your kidneys, how they impact your other organs, and the cutting-edge research going on in the clinics.
Getting to the heart of the matter: patients on dialysis
Federica Poli
(Medical Student doing an Intercalated MSc at the University of Leicester)
What is the complex interplay between two of the body’s most fascinating organs: the heart and the kidneys? What happens when the kidneys fail and how does that affect the heart? Many decades of research have already gone into this intricate relationship and the importance of maintaining a healthy heart when the kidneys stop working is now well-recognised. However, finding an imaging modality which is excellent at identifying heart disease in this group of patients is still challenging. This is where their research into the potential of a new cardiac MRI technique comes into play.
Transplanting the untransplantable
Dr Stephen Marks
(Reader and Consultant in Paediatric Nephrology at UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health)
Living donor kidney transplantation before a child requires dialysis is the gold standard treatment for children with severe irreversible kidney disease. This improves the long term outcomes for children giving them the best possible quality and quantity of life which is shortened due to their requirement for kidney replacement therapy to survive. Leading the largest kidney transplant programme for children means that we are able to push forward the boundaries of research and what is possible to ensure that children round the world can obtain the best outcomes.
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