I'm Dr. Joshua Schwimmer, a nephrologist and internal medicine physician in New York City. • Kidney Notes was the first active nephrology blog. (Trivia: Kidney Notes is so old that the National Library of Medicine still uses it as an example of how to formally cite blogs.) • Professionally, you can find me at Kidney.nyc. • Kidney Notes is for educational purposes only, not medical advice. Consult qualified health care professionals. See disclaimer.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Atypical Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome in the New England Journal of Medicine

Thrombotic microangiopathyImage by roboonya via Flickr

Every physician has diseases they see improbably often. For me, one of these conditions is hemolytic-uremic syndrome. Since writing one of my first papers on HUS as a resident — "De novo thrombotic microangiopathy in renal transplant recipients" — I've seen way more of it than you'd expect.

For kidney fans, this review article on atypical hemolytic-uremic syndrome in this month's New England Journal of Medicine (subscription required) is a must read. It details recent advances in the genetics of atypical hemolytic-uremic syndrome. What was previously a confusing mess of similar-appearing diseases — hemolytic-uremic syndrome, atypical hemolytic-uremic syndrome, drug-induced hemolytic-uremic syndrome, and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura — may finally be understandable.

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