Kidney specialist locates in town
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Dr. Robert Sabo, who calls his business Middle Tennessee Nephrology, will be opening a state-of-the-art dialysis center here, and it’s going to pretty easy to find. All patients have to do is look for the famous Birthing Tree, the huge oak on Sparta Street across from River Park Hospital. Dr. Sabo’s center will be located in the shadow of this well-known local landmark.
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Penn., Sabo comes to McMinnville from his most recent position at Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, N.M., where he served as staff nephrologist and later as staff hospitalist. Sabo received his B.S. in Medical Sciences at Gannon College in Erie, Penn., his M.D. at Hahnemann Medical college in Philadelphia, Penn., and a Nephrology Fellowship at University of Kentucky in Lexington.
There are a number of potential health problems that accompany dialysis, Sabo pointed out. Sabo says he will soon be able to treat patients here at River Park so they won’t be required to travel to other facilities.
“Before the end of next month we’re going to have in place, even before our new facility opens, what we call acute dialysis available in the hospital. So people in this community can go to River Park if they’re ill, and I will take care of them in the hospital, continue their dialysis therapy, while we take care of whatever the other issues are.”
Sabo says nephrology is not a familiar medical specialty to most people.
“Nephrology is the treatment of medical kidney disease,” Sabo said. “It doesn’t involve surgery. It involves treatment of people with kidney disease related to diabetes, high blood pressure, and ultimately people who have chronic kidney disease and kidney failure end up needing treatment with dialysis, which falls under the auspice of nephrology. And that’s the backbone of the profession.”
Though most people are aware of dialysis, Sabo says few know much about the technical aspects of the process.
“Dialysis is what people term an “artificial kidney,” Sabo said. “Dialysis is a treatment provided to those people who have less than 10 to 15 percent normal kidney function. When you’ve lost that much kidney function, you tend retain toxins in the bloodstream, which makes a person very sick. It causes nausea, vomiting, weight loss, fatigue, and at that point, the blood has to be cleansed of impurities and excess fluid because the kidneys are no longer able to keep up.”
And that’s where the dialysis machine comes in.
“When you go on dialysis, blood is removed from the circulatory system from an artery,” Sabo said, “and passed through tubing to an artificial filter where all the toxins, or most of the toxins and excess fluid are removed. The cleansed blood is then returned back to the system through another blood vessel.”
Treatments are usually given three times a week and last from three to four hours. This type of treatment is called hemodialysis and requires a visit to a clinic or hospital, but there is another type of dialysis that can be done at a patient’s home. It’s called peritoneal dialysis and requires surgery to place a plastic tube, called a catheter, into the abdominal area. During the treatment the peritoneal cavity is slowly filled with a fluid called dialysate which draws extra fluid and waste products out of the blood vessels that line the peritoneal cavity and into the dialysate, which is then drawn out through the catheter. Patients can perform this treatment themselves or with help from a family member. The disadvantage with this type of dialysis is an increased risk of infection.
Dr. Sabo’s office is currently located in Suite 7 at 1550 Sparta Street. Office manager Will Talbott can be reached at 474-4139.