Here's how to defer dialysis for kidney disease

Here's how to defer dialysis for kidney disease

Shalini
CNN-IBN
Thu, Mar 13, 2008

BETTER ALTERNATIVE: The Keto-Acid Therapy is a non-dialytic approach to chronic kidney disease.

New Delhi: Chronic Kidney disease affects about eight per cent of India's population. While dialysis or transplants remain the ultimate options for patients with CKD, there are other alternatives which may defer the need for dialysis.

The case of 78-year-old Saroj Badhwar was of typical kidney disease. After she was diagnosed in 2005, her creatinine and urea levels had shot up, indicating that she may need dialysis very soon.

“We tried every possible thing, but nothing seemed to work,” said the patient’s daughter, Archana Rai.

Things changed, however, when Saroj’s doctor put her on keto-acid therapy, a non-dialytic approach to chronic kidney disease.

Keto acids are proteins minus the nitrogen in them. Nitrogen is bad for kidney patients. So these drugs provide the patient with enough proteins minus the nitrogen,” explained nephrologist Dr Sunil Prakash.

A 2006 study carried out at the Global Hospitals in Hyderabad studied about 200 CKD patients who were put on Keto diet for an year's time. They showed significant decrease in the creatinine levels.

Doctors, however, warn that this is no miracle drug.

“This does not go to say that keto-analogues can just save you from dialysis. It may help in some cases and it may not help in others,” warned Dr Prakash.

Keto-acid therapy costs between Rs 6,000 to Rs 8,000 per month.

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