JEDDAH, 14 November 2007 — Cases of Saudis suffering from kidney disease are steadily on the rise.
According to a study led by researchers, the overall prevalence of chronic kidney disease has increased in the past few years.
The researchers conclude that the increase in chronic kidney disease is partly due to the rise in number of people with diabetes and hypertension and the aging of the population.
According to the annual report of the Saudi Center for Organs Transplantation, there are currently 9,533 people suffering from kidney failure across the Kingdom.
Chronic kidney disease increases the risk for complications from medications cleared by the kidney, hypertension, anemia, bone disease, cardiovascular disease, and ultimately kidney failure, which requires treatment with kidney transplantation or dialysis.
It is against this background that a three-day ‘Peritoneal dialysis academy’ opened at the Westin Jeddah Hotel yesterday. The event is being held under the chairmanship of professor Dr. Ali K. Abu-Alfa who is particularly experienced in the field of peritoneal dialysis, having chaired the academy in both Malaysia and Cyprus.
Eminent guest speakers include Dr. Peter Rutherford from Zurich (director of nephrology services, Cardiff General Hospital, Wales), Dr. Nicola Marangon, chief clinician, department of nephrology and transplantation, Geneva University Hospital and Dr. Dirk Struijk, associate professor of medicine and head of peritoneal dialysis and nephrology outpatients clinic at the University of Amsterdam.
In medicine, peritoneal dialysis is a method for removing waste such as urea and potassium from the blood, as well as excess fluid, when the kidneys are incapable of this (that is, in renal failure). “It is a form of renal dialysis and is thus a renal replacement therapy,” Keven Holland, managing director of Baxter AG for Middle East and Africa, told Arab News on the sidelines of the medical forum.
Peritoneal dialysis is typically done in the patient’s home and workplace, but can be done almost anywhere. A clean area to work, a way to elevate the bag of dialysis fluid and a method of warming the fluid are all that is needed. The main consideration is the potential for infection. Peritonitis is the most common serious complication, but with good technique can usually be avoided.
Infections of the catheter’s exit site or “tunnel” (path from the peritoneum to the exit site) are less serious. Because of this, patients are advised to take a number of precautions against infection.
As peritoneal dialysis can be conducted in the home, it reduces the social and economic burden on the patients, their families and the medical centers. For example, 90 percent of sufferers in Hong Kong are treated with the peritoneal kidney dialysis, 75 percent in Mexico, 33 percent in the UK, 27 percent in Canada and around 10 percent in the Kingdom.
Othman AbaHussein, general manager of Arabian Health Care Supply Company, a member of the Olayan Group of companies, had joined with Baxter International to present the medical forum. “This is part of our program of supporting and encouraging a higher standard of peritoneal dialysis care in the Kingdom. We are working in parallel with the Ministry of Health to introduce specialists and researchers to the latest medical developments in this arena,” AbaHussein said.
The three-day academy brings to Jeddah the very latest information concerning this serious affliction, case studies, the local perspective, prevention and management, adequacy survival and outcomes and fluid management.
