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NetWellness provides the highest quality health information and education services created and evaluated by faculty of our partner universities.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
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NetWellness provides the highest quality health information and education services created and evaluated by faculty of our partner universities.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
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Your kidneys are a pair of bean-shaped organs located at the back of your body at about waist level. Each kidney is the size of your fist and weighs 1/2 pound. This article addresses some common questions about the kidneys:
1. Your kidneys remove toxins, waste products, and extra water from your entire body. These waste products and extra water become urine, which is stored in your bladder. Twenty-four hours a day the kidneys act as a central regulating force for all body fluids.
2. Depending on your size, age, overall health, and diet, the kidneys filter about 200 quarts of blood everyday.
3. The kidneys also release important hormones that:
Kidney disease can result from:
Nephrologists are medical doctors who care for people with kidney problems. These problems may be temporary and curable or longer term and require maintenance care. Treating kidney diseases varies with the condition and severity. One course of treatment may be as simple as changes in your diet; but the most severe kidney disease may require complicated and sophisticated treatments called "dialysis" or even transplantation.
Preventing kidney disease and damage requires your active participation. You must carefully follow all of your doctor's advice. For example, if you are being treated for high blood pressure or diabetes, these can be controlled with proper diet and if needed, medication. Controlling these problems early will help to avoid damage to the kidneys. Dietary management can also be useful in helping to prevent the risk of kidney stones.
If you have high blood pressure or diabetes, ask your doctor about your risk for kidney disease. If you have any of the following symptoms, tell your doctor:
Burning sensation during urination After talking with you about your symptoms, your doctor will probably use blood and urine testing to check:
Your doctor may take pictures of your kidneys with:
These imaging techniques help find unusual growths or blockages in the flow of urine.
Depending upon your symptoms, your doctor may want to examine a small tissue sample from your kidney under a microscope. This is called a renal biopsy.
Chronic renal failure happens when, over a period of years, your kidneys lose their ability to filter your body's waste products. Diabetes and high blood pressure are the two most common causes of chronic renal failure.
Your doctor may prescribe medications as well as lifestyle changes to protect you from kidney disease if you are in these higher risk groups.
There are other diseases that can cause chronic renal failure including:
The long-term use of some over-the-counter pain relievers may also cause kidney damage. Tell your doctor if you take pain medication regularly.
Drug abuse can also cause chronic renal failure.
Acute renal failure occurs quickly, and may be the result of an injury, major blood loss, poisoning, reaction to a drug, or drug abuse.
Acute renal failure is serious and can cause permanent damage to your kidneys. Prompt medical attention is important. If there is no damage to the kidneys, normal function may return.
If you are in acute renal failure, you may or may not experience these symptoms:
Pale and sallow complexion Alert your doctor if you have any of these symptoms.
What happens if my kidneys fail?
After years of chronic renal failure, or after acute renal failure, your kidneys may stop working completely.
If this happens, your body will fill with extra water and waste products. Your hands and feet may swell, and you may feel weak and tired.
Discuss your options with your doctor. You will need to undergo kidney dialysis, or have a kidney transplant.
Hemodialysis is performed at a dialysis center three times per week and takes up to four hours to complete. Waste products and extra water are removed from the patient's blood through a special vein created in the forearm.
The patient performs peritoneal dialysis at home. A fluid called dialysate is put into the abdomen. This fluid captures your body's waste products and is then drained away. Then, a fresh bag of dialysate is dripped into the abdomen. This must be repeated four times per day.
A kidney transplant allows you to receive one new kidney from a donor who has recently died, or from a living person, usually a family member. Your donor, if living, will undergo a series of tests to make sure that they can remain healthy after donating one kidney. A person can live a normal life with only one functioning kidney.
Your doctor may decide you are a good candidate for a kidney transplant. This will depend on many factors, including your overall health. Special drugs are used to help your body adjust to the new kidney, and decrease the chances of your body rejecting the new kidney.
Source: National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Clearinghouse
Last Reviewed: Apr 01, 2004
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Philip W. Hall, 3rd, MD Professor of Medicine Emeritus Office of Medical Education School of Medicine Case Western Reserve University |
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