Nephrologic Procedures

There are two main procedures which I will be carrying out this year as a nephrology fellow. Today was significant in that I did my first of each of the two procedures. First, there is the kidney biopsy: this consists of shooting a small gun-like device containing a long, hollow-bore needle into somebody's back in order to obtain a tiny morsel of kidney tissue with which to look at under a microscope. It's important for making a diagnosis in people whose kidneys are failing but we don't know why. Second, there's the dialysis catheter. This is kind of like an iv that you would put into a vein, except it's a ginormous, scary large-bore tube you need for dialysis. Anyways, with one of each procedure under my belt, I'm well on my way to becoming one bad-ass nephrology fellow.

A few more Sophie photos: