Polysystic+Kidney+Disease

Polycystic Kidney Disease [|Animation: An Introduction to PKD]

Polycystic Kidney Disease, also known as PKD, is a disorder that consists on numerous cysts (fluid-filled cavities) growing in a person's kidney. Kidneys are two organs in a human's body that are located towards the back of the abdomen. Their purpose is to take wastes and extra fluid from the blood in order to form urine. Furthermore, kidney are a vital part of our body because they contribute to regulate vital substances in our body. However, when cysts form in the kidneys, they are filled with fluids, causing reduced kidney function and even cause kidney failure. When Polycystic Kidney Disease causes kidney failure, which usually happens after many years, the patient is left with two options: dialysis or kidney transplantation.

PKD can also happen in other organs of the body other than the kidney, such as the liver and blood vessels in the brain and the heart. It is the number of cysts as well as the complications they cause what indicates doctors tell apart PKD from harmless cysts that tend to grow in the kidneys (1).

There are different variations of PKD: Autosomal dominant PKD, which is the most common type of PKD, and autosomal recessive PKD, which is the rare type of this disease. Both types of PKD are mainly caused by gene deletion (2).


 * Benefits and Limitations Involving Science**

__Benefits:__ To begin with the benefits, science and technology help diagnose the disease through imaging studies like ultrasound, tomography, or magnetic resonance imaging, which is vital to the prevention of further complications of the disease. Another benefit relates to the occidental way of treating the disease. It consists on micro-chinese medicine osmotherapy and stem cell transplant; it "has transformed and is transforming into many PKD patient's destiny" (4).



__Limitations:__ However, since the cysts on infants are smaller and more difficult to detect, scientists have created a specific criteria and methods to diagnose the disease, since imaging studies cannot device such small cysts. This is one clear limitation, due to the fact that technology nowadays only lets doctors observe the larger cysts on adults and not the smaller ones on children (1). Not only are there limitations within the diagnose of the disease, there is still not a treatment that prevents the cysts from forming or enlarging. The treatment only consists on the control of the symptoms and pain and the prevention of further complications, such as heart attack, anemia, and kidney stones (see video above), which is why so many people with the disease require kidney transplant or dialysis (3).



[|PKD further information (Video)]


 * Areas of Interaction:**

__Social:__ This disease definitely has a social impact because patients at the age of 50-60 are forced to have a kidney transplant or dialysis treatment. In the case of kidney transplant, some patients are left lingering for about one year before they can get a kidney transplant, greatly affecting their social life. Not only this, but some patients can experience a lot of pain, which is the reason medication is necessary. It is clear that PKD changes one's life entirely.

__Economic:__ The amount of money a patient with PKD spends on treatment and alleviation of pain varies according to the severity of the disease and therefore the type of treatment. For example, the micro-Chinese treatment is relatively cheap (5). However, kidney transplants, if necessary, are much more expensive (6).

__Cultural:__ As shown above in the type of treatments for the disease, the kind of treatment varies according to the geographic locations and the local medicinal cultures. For examples, the treatment for PKD in China completely differs from the types of treatment in the U.S because it is based on traditional Chinese medicine. In the U.S, but also in China, stem cell transplant is an option, one of the mot modern types of treatment, which "gives patients a new hope" (7). As one can see, different types of technology are being developed in different parts of the world due to the cultural diversity, a positive aspect for PKD treatment.

__Ethical:__ As well as with other genetic diseases, parents that carry PKD have to take a crucial decision: either have or not have a baby, due to the fact that there is a 50% chance the baby will inherit the disease if one of the parents is a carrier (3). It is a clear ethical conflict that depends uniquely on the parents: have or not have a baby. However, there are other options, one of them being adoption.

References: 1.[|National Kidney & Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse (NKUDIC)]

2. [|PKD: Polycystic Kidney Disease]

3. [|NYT article PKD]

4. [|PKD in China]

5. [|Treatment]

6. [|Kidney Transplant Cost]

7. [|Micro-Chinese Medicine Osmotherapy for PKD (Polycystic Kidney Disease)-Giving Patients New Hopes]