Neurological complications are an almost universal side effect of severe kidney disease. The most common neurological complication in end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) is peripheral neuropathy, a condition that leads to weakness and disability and remains essentially untreatable in the majority of ESKD patients. Our research utilises novel nerve excitability techniques to investigate the causes of nerve dysfunction in these patients.
Recent studies by our group have indicated that nerve dysfunction in dialysis patients is closely correlated with serum potassium concentrations. As such AUSSPRINT, a clinical trial attempting to prevent peripheral neuropathy in early kidney disease by restricting dietary potassium intake, is currently underway, recruiting patients from Prince of Wales Hospital. The study is supported by an NHMRC Project Grant.
Further studies investigating the potential neuroprotective benefits of different dialysis modalities are also being undertaken concurrently.
