Renal Disfunction

Image

Kidneys are a pair of organs located toward our lower back. One kidney is on each side of your spine. They filter your blood and remove toxins from your body. Kidneys send toxins to your bladder, which your body later removes toxins during urination. Kidney failure occurs when your kidneys lose the ability to sufficiently filter waste from your blood. Many factors can interfere with your kidney health and function, such as:

  • toxic exposure to environmental pollutants or certain medications
  • certain acute and chronic diseases
  • severe dehydration
  • kidney trauma

Cause

Kidney failure may occur from an acute situation that injures the kidneys or from chronic diseases that gradually cause the kidneys to stop functioning. Your body becomes overloaded with toxins if your kidneys can’t do their regular job. This can lead to kidney failure, which can be life-threatening if left untreated. In acute renal failure, kidney function is lost rapidly and can occur from a variety of insults to the body. Since most people have two kidneys, both kidneys must be damaged for complete kidney failure to occur. Fortunately, if only one kidney fails or is diseased it can be removed, and the remaining kidney may continue to have normal kidney (renal) function. If both patient's kidneys are injured or diseased, a donor kidney(s) may be transplanted.

  1. You're more tired, have less energy or are having trouble concentrating. .
  2. You're having trouble sleeping. 
  3. You have dry and itchy skin. 
  4.  You feel the need to urinate more often. 
  5.  You see blood in your urine. Healthy kidneys typically keep the blood cells Your urine is foamy. 
  6.  You're experiencing persistent puffiness around your eyes. 
  7.  Your ankles and feet are swollen. 
  8. You have a poor appetite. 
  9.  Your muscles are cramping. 

Kidney failure is most often found with a blood test called a "creatinine level." Creatinine is a molecule made by your muscles. A normal kidney will remove extra creatinine from the blood stream and get rid of it in urine. More creatinine in the blood is a sign that the kidneys aren't cleaning the blood as well as they should. This test can spot something is wrong before a patient with kidney failure feels sick.

 Treatment

To treat ARF, you have to treat the cause (such as blood pressure that is too high or too low, a kidney stone or high blood sugar). Sometimes you need dialysis for a short time. With CRF, treating the cause (such as high blood pressure and/or high blood sugar) can slow the disease. CRF can lead to end stage kidney disease. When kidney function falls below 10% of normal, dialysis or a kidney transplant is most often needed, especially if you have signs of uremia (a buildup of waste in the blood), like nausea and itching.

Transplant

A kidney transplant is when a surgeon puts a healthier kidney from another person into your body. Kidney transplant is the best way to treat many patients with end stage kidney failure. Kidneys for transplant come from people who have agreed to donate their kidneys when they die (deceased donors) or donated by healthy people (living donors). Living donors are most often family members of the patient. There is a shorter wait time to surgery for a transplant from a living donor. (This is because there is a waiting list for kidneys from deceased donors and not enough donors.) Also, patients with kidneys donated by living donors live longer (and the kidneys last longer) than those with kidneys from deceased donors or who just stay on dialysis.

Clinical Gastroenterology Journal accepts original manuscripts in the form of research articles, review articles, Clinical reviews, commentaries, case reports, perspectives and short communications encompassing all aspects of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology for publication in open access platform.

Regards
Jessica Watson
Managing Editor
Clinical Gastroenterology journal