CHANDIGARH: A pioneering research by the PGI has come as a ray of hope for children suffering from kidney disorders. This is for the first time that a study has shown that the genetic constitution of a cell can also be one of the factors leading to kidney damage among children.
“Through this study we have established a significant correlation between Angiontensin Converting Enzyme (DD) geno type and chronic kidney disease and renal scarring,” said K.L. Narasimhan, Additional Professor at the PGI’s Department of Paediatric Surgery.
“Now that the correlation has been established, this study will become a basis to identify children with a higher risk of kidney damage and also predict the risk from parents in future. It will give a new direction to the renal failure prevention programme,” he said.
Every year, the Department of Paediatrics Surgery treats a number of children with posterior urethral valves (PUV), commonly known as an obstruction to the urinary passage, which is a congenital defect among boys.
“The incidence of renal failure in PUV is very high. Even after removal of the obstruction, renal failure can occur because of several abnormalities like poor kidneys, bladder damage due to prolonged obstruction in foetal life and urine infection,” said Narasimhan.
Stating that the disease is diagnosed during antenatal screening in developed countries, he said, “In our country, the diagnosis is done later on when a child complains of difficulty in passing urine or suffers from a urinary tract, infection.”
Such geno typing studies will prove helpful in predicting renal outcomes in patients with PUV; in addition to throwing light on the genes that modulate development of the urinary system.
SOURCE-HT
