Polycystic Kidney Disease

Nursing Students General Students

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We have just finished PKD and I asked the instructor if a pt had PKD and received a kidney transplant could the new kidney also develop PKD. She did not know and asked me if I could research this. I have researched this and have found out a lot of info.....like cysts can for in other organs but they aren't as painful or destructive as the ones in the kidneys. If anyone has any ideas or know where I could research this I would appreciate it very much!!! I have been working my brains too hard........I still have to study for a test this week as well as finish my clinical packet!

:crash_com

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Specializes in Telemetry, ICU, Resource Pool, Dialysis.

To my knowledge, the transplanted kidney would NOT develop cysts because the disease is specific to the kidney itself. It's a genetic disorder. If the transplanted kidney does not have the gene, it won't develop cysts.

http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition=polycystickidneydisease

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This is what I thought as well but the instructor stated that she wasn't sure...........so if she wasn't sure, who knows, and I like having the answers. Thanks again for your imput.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

I work in nephrology and the transplanted kidney would not develop cysts as it doesn't have the genetic mutation. Interestingly enough, when a PKD gets a transplant, both native kidneys are removed.

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Why are both native kidneys removed?

Thanks soooooooooooo much for your imput!!

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

Both kidneys are removed at transplant because the cysts continue to grow, sometimes reaching close to 50 pounds. The success of kidney transplantation depends on adequacy of circulation and anything that occupies the space the transplanted kidney needs can lead to loss of the graft.

PKD is a mutation on the 16th chromosome. Inheritance can be either autosomal dominant (usually recognised in the fourth to seventh decade of life) or autosomal recessive (usually present at birth); there are also de novo mutations that are not familial. These de novo mutaions may be linked to younger maternal age and nutritional status but studies have not proven this link. (This was discovered incidentally when a team of reasearchers at the University of Manitoba examined the incidence of vascular disruption sequences by maternal age; a 10,000 chart review was carried out in 2001-2002 and this incidental finding was the most interesting part of the results.)

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WOW....things are really making sense to me now. I am glad that I researched this more. Thanks sooooooooooooooooo much!!!!

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