[Pediatric nephrology in developing countries]. / Néphrologie pédiatrique dans les pays en développement.

Pediatric nephrology is not a priority medicine in developing countries, but it should improve along with the development of both preventive and curative simple measures since the mortality rate is still important. This can be applied to the management of urinary tract infection, acute nephritis and some other cases of acute renal failure. The identification and management of chronic kidney diseases is mainly based on blood pressure measurement, proteinuria screening and plasma creatinine assessment. However renal replacement therapy (i.e., dialysis and transplantation) is highly expensive and its access is therefore limited to selected growing countries. The improvement in the care of renal children therefore requires better medical knowledge, nurse training and population information.

Acute renal failure in a patient with phosphofructokinase deficiency.

A 16-year-old Caucasian girl was admitted to hospital with acute renal failure and hemolytic anemia due to rhabdomyolysis following a 3-km walk. (31)P-magnetic resonance spectroscopy provided characteristic spectra of type VII glycogen storage disease (phosphofructokinase deficiency).