The recent death of Luis Larraín, highlights the importance of the work done by Corporación Renal Infantil MATER in the prevention and early diagnosis of urological diseases. The objective is to avoid dialysis and subsequent renal transplantation, because an intervention of this type involves many side effects, including the possibility of suffering some type of cancer.
On November 17, Luis Larraín Stieb (42 years old), co-founder of Fundación Iguales, said goodbye to his followers on social networks with an emotional video that was published posthumously by his brother with the following phrase: "He left us a great man. My brother Luis asked me to publish this video to give closure to his #RutaDelCáncer and #RutaDelEnfermoCrónico", in the press it was said that his death was due to blood cancer and indeed that was the reason, but no explained that the non-Hodgkin's lymphoma that afflicted him had been the result of a chronic kidney disease that affected him since 2004 and for which he had faced kidney transplants in 2010 and 2013.
Something that he himself had spoken openly about on several occasions, in fact in an interview published in September of this year by interview published in September of this year by Diario Financiero when referring to how he faced cancer, he recalled his previous health problems: "I have already gone through three years of dialysis and two kidney transplants, so this (cancer) is like one more step on that road. I knew I was more likely to get cancer because I was a transplant recipient, because we take immunosuppressants for life and that makes us more vulnerable to disease."
Medical background confirmed by Dr. Jose Manuel Escala, pediatric urologist and founder of Corporación Renal Infantil MATERWhen a patient has a chronic kidney disease and has to undergo a transplant, he/she has to take immunosuppressive drugs, which lower the defenses and are used to avoid the rejection of the kidney. But it has been seen that people who take these medications are more likely to suffer from some type of cancer or tumors".
This is not a minor concern, if we consider that in Chile at the present time some 20 thousand people are on dialysis, which for the physician "is an enormous figure, many of these adults started out as children with the disease. That is why the early diagnosis of pathologies such as a febrile urinary tract infection, which in children under 4 years of age may be due to a malformation, is fundamental". These, when detected in time, can be operated on and prevent the children from suffering from chronic kidney disease.
And this is precisely where the MATER Children's Renal Corporation plays an essential role, as the non-profit organization has been dedicated to preventing kidney and urological damage in low-income children and adolescents for two decades. It is the only institution in the country specialized in children's prevention and works to facilitate access to examinations, surgeries and social assistance to prevent children from having to undergo dialysis or transplants due to lack of resources.
The work they carry out is invaluable, as all the preventive actions they focus on to prevent chronic kidney disease, thus performing more than 14,000 treatments a year in its Diagnostic Center and 350 surgeries both in Santiago and in the regions. In its Shelter House, located in the commune of San Miguel, they receive pediatric patients from the regions who must travel to the capital for health reasons, but do not have the resources to pay for their lodging; providing 2,500 stays for children and their families every year.
Today they are preparing to reduce and even eliminate waiting lists by 2024. Thanks to the regional surgical operations "we have opened a window to put an end to the non-boom patients who are on the waiting lists, who have no priority and are falling behind, since many of them present later renal or urological problems when they are not treated in time," concludes Dr. Escala.
