Few things on earth outnumber Swifties.
Kidneys are one of them. Here's why they deserve this imaginary prize:
📜 The earliest known kidney references date back to bronze votives from the 13th century BC in Cyprus. Kidneys have appeared in relics across history, from Egypt to Babylonia and through the development of surgery during the medieval and Renaissance periods.
👊 Healthy kidneys filter about a half cup of blood every minute (over 50 gallons per day!). That's pretty impressive considering each weighs about 5 ounces and is the size of your fist.
💪 Most human beings are born with 2 kidneys. However, if one of the kidneys is taken out, the body only loses ~25% of kidney function. You can live with just one kidney (hello, living donors)!
🚸 For kids born with renal agenesis (i.e. one kidney), the lone kidney grows till it has the combined weight of two.
🛣 Nephrons are the filtering units of the kidney. Each kidney has between 1-2 million nephrons. If the nephrons in the 2 kidneys are removed and laid end-to-end, they cover a distance of ~10 miles!
🌞 Kidneys are capable of activating Vitamin D in the body. This is primarily done by the skin on exposure to sunlight. Should the skin fail, however, the duty falls to the liver; should the liver fail, the kidney takes over.
🏥 The first successful kidney transplant took place in 1954. Last year, the US celebrated its 1 millionth organ transplant to date. There are over 400,000 people alive today with a functioning transplant.
🏆 Kidneys are the most transplanted organ. Last year, out of the nearly 43K total organs transplanted, 25K were kidneys (59%).
⌛ At the same time, there are over 100K people on the waiting list for organs in the United States. Nearly 89K of those people are waiting on kidneys. The average wait time for a new kidney is 3 to 5 years.
🔬 Artificial kidneys are in the works. Researchers are working on small, implantable devices to help address the shortage of available kidneys. There are also efforts to use animal kidneys in humans with something called xeno-transplantation.
👥 1 in 3 US adults is at risk of developing kidney disease. Nearly 37 million people are estimated to have it already, yet 90% of those people are unaware they have it. This is one of our greatest challenges as a society today.
Will you help us solve it?
What did I miss? What else should people know?
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If this post resonates with you, please consider sharing it. Here's to celebrating our wins on the road to solving our greatest kidney challenges.
#health #medicine #innovation #technology #news
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Sources:
[1] https://lnkd.in/esUqbEjF
[2] https://lnkd.in/eF9mn35J
[3] https://lnkd.in/ecfBbmpM
[4] https://lnkd.in/eVZCjJaU
