Acute Kidney Failure
Acute kidney failure causes rapid loss of kidney's ability to perform its functions properly. The major causes that are responsible for acute failure include frequent exposure to toxins, prostate enlargement and low blood pressure. Its diagnosis is done through laboratory test and medical history of the patient. The disease can causes some serious complications such as high potassium levels, problems in organ systems, fluctuations in fluid level in body and metabolic acidosis.
Causes of Acute Kidney Failure
The factors causing acute kidney failure can be categorized into the three major categories:
- Prerenal Failure : This category includes the problems related to blood flow to kidney such as low blood pressure, low blood flow and heart failure. Sometimes, when the blood vessels those provide blood to the kidneys are damaged, and that can also cause acute kidney failure. This blood flow is also can be affected by the changes in hormones causes by liver failure and blockage of blood vessels.
- Postrenal Failure : This category includes the problems caused due to the blocking of urinary tract that carries urine filtered by kidney. This condition is also knows as obstructive renal failure, as the prolonged obstruction in urine tract can damage kidney tissues. This obstruction can be the result of following conditions:
- Kidney stone
- Urinary tract cancer
- Medications
- Bladder stone
- Bladder cancer
- Blood clot
- Enlarger prostate
- Intrinsic : It includes the factors that are harmful to the kidney itself. The damages to the renal tubules and glomeruli. These conditions are the result of:
- Acute intestinal nephritis
- Acute tubular necrosis
- Glomerulonephritis
Diagnosing Acute Kidney Failure
Generally, kidney failure diseases are diagnosed by performed some urine tests and blood tests. These tests provide details of following conditions:
- Creatinine and Urea level in the blood can suggest acute kidney failure. This condition is known as azotemia.
- The increased level of electrolytes in blood due to the obstructions in filtering can also be considered as a signal to acute kidney failure.
- Anemia is a major symptom of kidney failure. It causes due to low count of red blood cells.
Treatment for Acute Kidney Failure
Treating acute kidney failure is based upon the cause and severity of the disease. Generally, doctors recommend avoiding nephrotoxins which is toxic for the kidney. Renal function is monitored on regular intervals that include the urine output level and serum creatinine level.
Intake of fluids in large level can be beneficial in improving renal functions. Patient, especially who are with fluid replete are always suggested to go through the fluid therapies for rapid recovery.
Renal replacement therapy is widely used for treating acute kidney failure. Continuous venovenous hemofilteration and intermittent hemodialysis are the therapies that come under this treatment option.
Acute kidney failure is usually the result of urinary tract obstruction and problems if blood supply to the kidneys. It develops rapidly causing severe damages to the kidney.
