Researchers are using artificial intelligence to predict kidney failure

Kidney failure can be caused by several reasons: diabetes, high blood pressure, autoimmune diseases, and polycystic kidney disease (PKD), which is a genetic disease that causes cysts to form around the kidneys. The most common form of ARP is autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) which is most often diagnosed in adults between the ages of 30 and 40.

Fouad Shabib, a nephrologist who specializes in polycystic kidney disease Mayo ClinicHe says that patients understand that there is a possibility of developing kidney failure. That’s why researchers continue to innovate.

Mayo Clinic is currently using artificial intelligence to help predict the progress of patients with ADPKD.

For those patients with polycystic kidney disease and so-called ADPKD, half of them will reach renal failure by the age of 50. And then 75 percent can reach kidney failure by the age of 60,” says Shabib.

Advances in technology have allowed Shebib and the Mayo Clinic researchers to use the data differently.

And with artificial intelligence we can collect all this data, especially from imaging tests such as total kidney size. This is now part of our clinical practice. We can take an MRI or a CT scan and send it to the AI ​​cloud and then give it back to our radiology team with the exact numbers.”

“We can create formulas with those numbers, adjust for age, and have something called Mayo Image Ranking. Thus, we can predict the future of kidney function, when patients may or may not reach kidney failure,” Shebib explains.

Information that helps you make decisions

It is about providing patients with information so that they can make decisions about the future.

Keeping your kidneys as healthy as possible can help prevent some of the complications of this disease. One of the most important ways to protect your kidneys is to control your blood pressure, eat a low-sodium diet, get plenty of exercise, and avoid excessive consumption of tobacco and alcohol.

For people who have advanced to end-stage kidney failure, it may be necessary to start dialysis or to have a kidney transplant.