Kidney Failure – Signs, Causes and Stages

Kidney failure, also known as renal failure is a condition in which kidney function is impaired, to an extent that the kidneys fail to sufficiently filter metabolic wastes from the blood. There are two types of this condition, acute kidney injury (earlier known as acute renal failure) and chronic kidney disease. While the former is reversible with treatment, the former is not. While acute kidney injury is common, with more than 1 million cases reported every year in India, chronic kidney disease is even more common, with more than 10 million cases reported every year in India. Signs and Symptoms A variety of symptoms can occur during kidney failure. However, there are sometimes none of the symptoms occur. Common symptoms include: • A reduced amount of urinern• Swelling of legs, ankles and feet caused by retention of fluid, due to the failure of kidneysrn• Shortness of breathrn• Excessive fatigue and/or drowsinessrn• Nausearn• Pain or pressure in chestrn• Confusionrn• Seizuresrn• Coma Causes These are usually the causes for a kidney failure, which usually have underlying causes in themselves: • Loss of blood flow to the kidneys: A sudden loss of blood flow can result in kidney failure. This can be caused by:rn1. A heart attackrn2. Heart diseasern3. Scarring of the liver, or liver failurern4. Dehydrationrn5. A severe bu 6. An allergic reactionrn7. A severe infection, such as sepsisrn8. High blood pressurern9. Anti-inflammatory medicine • Problems with elimination of urine: Kidneys can overload if the body doesn’t eliminate urine. This causes toxins to build up. Some type of cancers such as prostate, colon, cervical and bladder cancers can cause this to happen. Other causes include:rn1. Kidney stonesrn2. Enlarged prostratern3. Blood clots in urinary tractrn4. Nerve damage to the area that controls the bladder • There are some other diseases and causes which can lead to kidney failure, these include: 1. A blood clot in on around the kidneysrn2. Infectionrn3. Toxins or heavy metalsrn4. Drugs and alcoholrn5. Vasculitisrn6. Lupusrn7. Glomerulonephritisrn8. Haemolytic Uremic syndromern9. Multiple myelomarn10 Sclerodermarn11.Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpurarn12.Chemotherapy drugsrn13.Dyes used in imaging textsrn14.Certain antibioticsrn15.Uncontrolled diabetes Stages The stages of kidney failure differ according to its type. Stages or phases of Acute Kidney Injury include:rn1. Onset phase: Damage or injury occursrn2. Oliguric or Anuric phase: Urine output decreases from renal tubule damagern3. Diuretic phase: The kidneys try to heal and urine output increases, but tubule scarring and damage occurrn4. Recovery phase: Tubular oedema resolves and renal function improves The stages of chronic kidney disease, however, are determined by glomerular filtration rate (GFR), which is a measure of how well the kidneys filters blood.rn1. Stage 1: Kidney damage with normal or high GFR of 90 or abovern2. Stage 2: Kidney damage with mildly low GFR of 60 to 89rn3. Stage 3: Kidney damage with moderately low GFR of 30 to 59rn4. Stage 4: Kidney damage with severely low GFR of 15 to 29rn5. Stage 5: Kidney failure with GFR below 15 Kidney transplant is usually needed in chronic kidney disease, or dialysis. Kidney failure treatment is available in top hospitals in Gurgaon, Delhi, Patna and Darbhanga like Paras Hospitals, which have the best nephrologist in Gurgaon, the best kidney specialist in Patna and such experts in the mentioned cities.