Millions of people across the world suffer from kidney disease. Of those millions, several thousand will need dialysis or a kidney transplant at its end-stage.In the United States, as of 2008, 16,500 people needed a kidney transplant. Of those, 5,000 died while waiting for a transplant. Currently, there is a shortage of donors, and in 2007 there were only 64,606 kidney transplants in the world.This shortage of donors is causing countries to place monetary value on kidneys.
Countries such as Iran and Singapore are eliminating their lists by paying their citizens to donate. Also, the black market accounts for 5-10 percent of transplants that occur worldwide. The act of buying an organ through the black market is illegal in the United States. To be put on the waiting list for a kidney transplant, patients must first be referred by a physician, then they must choose and contact a donor hospital. Once they choose a donor hospital, patients must then receive an evaluation to make sure they are sustainable to receive a transplant.
In order to be a match for a kidney transplant, patients must match blood type and human leukocyte antigen factors with their donors. They must also have no reactions to the antibodies from the donor’s kidneys.Nephropathy can be associated with some therapies used to treat cancer. The most common form of kidney disease in cancer patients is Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) which can usually be due to volume depletion from vomiting and diarrhea that occur following chemotherapy or occasionally due to kidney toxicities of chemotherapeutic agents.
Kidney failure from break down of cancer cells, usually after chemotherapy, is unique to onconephrology. Several chemotherapeutic agents, for example Cisplatin, are associated with acute and chronic kidney injuries. Newer agents such as anti Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (anti VEGF) are also associated with similar injuries, as well as proteinuria, hypertension and thrombotic microangiopathy.
