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Feliciano Serrano, M.D., says too many patients in Los Angeles learn they have kidney disease only after it has already done lasting damage, and he is speaking out on why that keeps happening.
A Disease That Rarely Announces Itself
California, USA, Oct 16, 2026, ZEX PR WIRE — Kidney disease does not usually come with a clear warning. Blood pressure creeps up. Energy drops. Swelling in the ankles gets written off as a long day on your feet. By the time a patient feels unmistakably sick, the kidneys may have already lost a large share of their function.
“Kidney disease moves quietly,” Serrano said. “Most of my patients did not feel anything was wrong until a lab test told them otherwise. That delay is the real danger, not the disease itself.”
Serrano is a physician based in Los Angeles who treats patients with kidney disease and with the vascular conditions that often come with it. He trained in nephrology and later completed a fellowship in interventional and endovascular procedures, giving him a view of both how kidney disease is diagnosed and how it is treated once it has progressed.
Why the Gap Matters More in Some Neighborhoods
Serrano has spent much of his career treating patients in the inner city neighborhoods where he was raised. He says the gap between a treatable early stage and an advanced one widens further for patients who face language barriers or limited access to regular checkups.
“A patient who cannot explain their symptoms clearly to a doctor, or who puts off a visit because of cost or time, loses the exact window when kidney disease is easiest to manage,” he said. “I speak Spanish with my patients because that conversation is often the difference between catching something early and catching it late.”
He points to routine bloodwork, specifically a basic metabolic panel and a urine test, as the tools that catch kidney disease long before a patient feels sick. Neither test is unusual or expensive. The problem, Serrano says, is that they are often skipped until something else prompts a visit to a doctor.
The Part That Gets Left Out of the Conversation
Serrano’s early research, conducted during a fellowship at the University of Vermont School of Medicine with NIH support, looked at why people with kidney disease do not live as long as people with normal kidney function. The work focused on platelet activity and thrombosis, a connection between the kidneys and the cardiovascular system that he says still does not get enough attention from patients themselves.
“People think of kidney disease as a kidney problem,” he said. “It is also a heart and blood vessel problem. That connection is part of why early detection matters so much. The longer kidney disease goes unmanaged, the more it affects the rest of the body.”
This is also why Serrano’s practice, the Serrano Kidney & Vascular Access Center, treats kidney care and vascular care together rather than as separate visits. Patients who need a procedure to open or repair a blood vessel are often the same patients whose kidney disease was caught late.
What Serrano Tells Patients to Do
Serrano’s advice to patients is direct: do not wait for symptoms. Ask for a kidney function test as part of a routine physical, especially with a family history of diabetes, high blood pressure, or kidney disease. If a test comes back abnormal, follow up with a specialist rather than letting it sit on a chart unaddressed.
“I tell people the same thing I would tell my own family,” he said. “A number on a lab report is easier to deal with than a hospital stay. Ask the question before the disease forces you to.”
He also encourages patients to bring a family member or trusted interpreter to appointments when language is a barrier, so that nothing about their health gets lost in translation.
About Feliciano Serrano
Feliciano A. Serrano, M.D. is the Medical Director of the Serrano Kidney & Vascular Access Center in Los Angeles, California. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine and a member of the American Society of Diagnostic/Interventional Nephrology. Dr. Serrano completed his medical degree at the Keck School of Medicine at USC, a nephrology and hypertension fellowship at the University of Vermont School of Medicine, and a fellowship in interventional and endovascular procedures at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. He treats patients with kidney disease and vascular conditions across Los Angeles and is fluent in English and Spanish.
Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Economics Bot journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.