Transcript
Announcer:
You’re listening to Clinician’s Roundtable on ReachMD. On this episode, Dr. Anjay Rastogi will discuss why an expert opinion is important for IgA nephropathy patients. Dr. Rastogi is a Professor of Medicine and Clinical Chief of Nephrology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He's also the Director of the UCLA CORE Kidney Health Program. Here he is now.
Dr. Rastogi:
This is a very rapidly evolving field. I know something about it because that's my area of interest: rare kidney diseases. But if I’m put in the same situation for other conditions, I might be lost as well. So I think getting another opinion to really tease out all the details is not a bad idea, whether it's a patient doing that or the provider.
But I do make a distinction between a second opinion and an expert opinion. Now, a second opinion is that you heard it from your provider, and you want to hear from somebody else. The way I would look at it for rare diseases, you need to go to an expert opinion. And what is the difference? The expert opinion is that the expert will work with your nephrologist and will really give them guidance on what they think, in their opinion, is the best care. And that is important, because you need to go for the other opinion to somebody who knows about that condition.
Now, IgA nephropathy is still a rare disease, but it's not rare if you have it. So I think it behooves us to actually get an expert opinion, and that's where these centers of excellence that are being developed across the country are going to be critical. But find out from the nearest academic institution who's really interested in IgA nephropathy—not just any referral—but find out that this doctor focuses on IgA nephropathy, and send the patients to them for an expert opinion and get them back.
I think that will really help our very busy providers to get more insight on what is out there and also what's coming down the pipeline. Don't forget, there are a lot of trials that are going on as well, and some patients might be good candidates for those trials. So I think an expert opinion as opposed to a second opinion is the way I would go. And I say it's always good to get an expert opinion, especially for rare diseases.
Announcer:
That was Dr. Anjay Rastogi explaining the role of an expert opinion in IgA nephropathy care. To access this and other episodes in our series, visit Clinician’s Roundtable on ReachMD.com, where you can Be Part of the Knowledge. Thanks for listening.
