Dietitian Katrina Campbell, who graduated with her PhD from QUT, monitored the diets of 62 pre-dialysis patients at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (RB&WH) and supported them with regular contact as part of her thesis.
Dr Campbell said depending on the patient's individual situation, a dietitian could intervene by suggesting things such as increasing the amount of physical activity, modifying recipes, increasing high-energy food, controlling protein intake or having regular small meals.
"People who suffer severe chronic kidney disease clearly need support with their diets," she said. "When their kidneys function at less than 30 per cent they often lose their appetites, which can lead to malnutrition and compound their health problems."
Dr Campbell said the participants in the study ranged for 40 to 80 years old and their kidney conditions had been affected by primary disorders such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
She said patients needed support because the dietary approach to chronic kidney disease often was quite different from what had been recommended for the primary conditions.
"In the study, the patients received individual counselling on nutrition and lifestyle through regular contact, either in a clinic or by telephone,'' Dr Campbell said.
She hoped an integration of dietetic services into the treatment of chronic kidney patients would follow as her findings were published in international medical and nutrition journals.
With chronic kidney disease on the rise, people managing health budgets could be expected to factor in the benefits.
Kidney Health Australia figures show kidney failure is the seventh most frequent cause of death in Australia and exceeds road deaths, suicide, and breast cancer in number. More than 40 people die each day from kidney failure in Australia.
While kidney disease has doubled over the last two decades, death rates from almost all other chronic conditions are falling substantially.
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Previous work on the detection of CTCs in bone marrow had also been shown to have predictive value, said Dr. J??ckstock. ???It is easier to work with bone marrow, because the volume of CTCs is much higher than in blood in the case of a positive status. However, because bone marrow is not easily accessible it is difficult to use this technique on a large scale. It is very much simpler, and more patient-friendly, to take blood samples for analysis.
???We think that the persistence of CTCs after chemotherapy treatment is likely to be predictive of the likelihood of recurrence of cancer in these patients,??? said Dr. J??ckstock, ???and we will be working to analyse the prognostic value of our findings. If this proves to be the case, it will open the door to a simple way of monitoring the likely outcome of chemotherapy, as well as enabling us to target treatments more precisely. For example, for those patients who have an increased risk of recurrence, we could prolong or alter the chemotherapy regime to give them a better chance of recovery. For those who are likely to respond well to treatment, we could reduce the length of treatment and use less aggressive therapies, thus sparing unpleasant side effects.
???We expect to have these results in the next five years,??? she said, ???and if they are as expected, we are optimistic that our research can bring about a real improvement in the way chemotherapy is used in breast cancer patients.???
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