Medullary Kidney Disease  Mucin-1 Kidney Disease Frequently
Asked Questions  What is Mucin-1 Kidney Disease?  Mucin-1 Kidney
Disease (MKD), previously known as Medullary Cystic Kidney
Disease Type I (MCKD1), is a rare inherited kidney disease that
causes progressive kidney failure leading to the need for a
kidney transplant or dialysis in most patients.  Why was it
called Medullary Cystic Kidney Disease Type 1?  “Medullary”
means the middle of the kidney, and cysts are small holes.  It
was initially thought that in this disease there were small
holes (cysts) formed in the middle of the kidney.  However, most
patients with MKD do not have cysts in the middle of their
kidney, or in other parts of their kidney.  For this reason, the
name used for this condition is incorrect.  Unfortunately,
doctors have used this name for many years, and it is hard to
change names.  It was called Type 1 because there are two
similar types of this disease.  It turns out that the two types
of the disease are entirely unrelated.  