Kidney Disease

Passing kidney stones is considered to be one of the most painful things to endure. Kidney stones can become as large as a golf ball and must be passed through extremely narrow conduits of the...

The kidneys are integral to your health. They are responsible for creating urine and assisting our bodies in excreting wastes, among other things. Keeping your kidneys functioning and healthy is...

Renal tubular acidosis (RTA) occurs when the kidney tubules fail to adequately remove acids from the blood in order to excrete them in the urine. RTA may lead to an imbalance of potassium levels...

Renal disease is a serious condition that affects the kidneys. Because kidneys are part of the digestive system, a proper diet can assist in the health and comfort of someone suffering with renal...

Renal failure comes in two forms: chronic and acute. Chronic renal (kidney) failure involves a gradual decrease in your kidneys' functioning, and acute renal (kidney) failure is sudden. There is...

The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs located beneath the ribs and toward the center of the back. These organs remove liquid wastes from the body, help form red blood cells and produce hormones...

A renal diet is required for those who are suffering from kidney disease or failure. Most often, those following a renal diet are awaiting a kidney transplant. Because the kidneys are critical in...

Chronic Renal Insufficiency is a condition wherein the kidneys are gradually damaged by a disease or disorder. Specifically, the damage, as with IgA Nephropathy, is incurred upon the glomuli in...

Eating a healthy and balanced diet is important for everyone, but it is especially important if you suffer from kidney function deficiency because the kidneys are responsible for maintaining your...

Multicystic renal disease, also called multicystic kidney dysfunction, is the formation of non-cancerous cysts on the kidneys. The disease is normally present at birth and can be viewed on...

The American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP) is an organization begun by kidney patients looking for help for their condition, "directed by patients, for patients." Its main focus is to...

Diseased kidneys excrete potassium inefficiently, resulting in high potassium levels in the body. High levels of potassium cause problems with heart rhythm, making a low-potassium diet necessary...

According to the Mayo Clinic, kidney stones are hard deposits of acid salts and minerals that have gathered on the inside of the kidneys. Typically these deposits, which include calcium, would be...

Kidney stones can form when salts and other minerals do not leave the body. The small pebbles in the urinary tract can vary in size and can cause tremendous pain. They are relatively common,...

Three-fourths of all cases of elevated potassium levels indicate kidney disease, which can be fatal if it isn't treated right away. Symptoms to watch for are skin tingling, weakness, an irregular...

About 70% of people with kidney stones are male. It is said that kidney stones are so painful that it is often thought of as male labor! If you or someone you care about is suffering from the...

Due to the complexity of the human body, the site of pain is not always the site of the related illness or injury. The National Library of Medicine indicates that this can be the case for kidney...

Renal cancer is also known as kidney cancer. The American Cancer Society says that more than 50,000 Americans are diagnosed with the disease each year. There are several factors that can affect an...

Kidney stones are deposits of minerals such as calcium that build up in the kidneys and upper urinary tract. Often these stones are tiny and few enough in number to pass out of the body on their...

Bladder infections are also referred to as cystitis and don't always have symptoms, according to the Mayo Clinic. There are several different types of bladder infections, each with its own set of...

Kidney stones are small solid masses of crystallized minerals and salts that form in the kidneys and either stay there or pass through urine. Larger stones may become stuck in the bladder, urethra...

Dialysis presents special problems for vascular access, or the ability to access veins and arteries to remove waste products from the blood. The function of the kidneys in your body is to remove...

Blood filtration is a critical process in the general maintenance of the mammalian body. Unfortunately, the kidneys are vulnerable to a condition called acute glomerulonephritis, which is an...

The kidneys remove waste and fluid from the body, and they regulate the amount of important nutrients. When they're not working properly, it's important to help them out by adjusting your diet and...

The blood urea nitrogen (BUN) test, in conjunction with the creatinine test is primarily used to evaluate kidney functioning. You should be able to identify the primary bodily functions associated...

The American Association of Kidney Patients notes on its Web site that numerous medications help prevent rejection of transplanted organs by suppressing recipients' immune systems. It notes that...

Kidney stones (renal lithiasis) are small crystalline stones that can form in the kidneys of both men and women, although more commonly in men. These stones, usually the result of an underlying...

Hydronephrosis is a common prenatal and infantile condition characterized by an obstruction of urine flow somewhere along the urinary tract that is easily treatable.

Kidneys filter toxins from your body but stop working as efficiently if they are damaged or deteriorate due to illness. There are five stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD), with acute renal...

The presence of blood in the urine that cannot be detected visually is called microscopic hematuria. It's not unusual to have a trace amount of microscopic hematuria since things such as smoking,...

Intrinsic renal disease is a type of kidney disease that is often the result of an injury to the kidneys. The disease also is caused by lack of blood to the kidneys, drug abuse and inflammation...

Contrast-Induced Renal Failure (CIN) is also known as contrast-induced nephropathy and is caused by the dyes used by radiologists for internal imaging procedures. According to MayoClinic.com,...

Hemoglobin is protein located in red blood cells that gives blood its red appearance. OhioHealth.com states that the typical range for hemoglobin count in men is roughly 14 to 17 g/dL, while 12 to...

Proteins are nutrients necessary for the structure of cells, tissues and organs, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. Low blood protein or protein deficiency is typically a...

Kidney stones typically develop when substances including calcium, uric acid and oxalate become concentrated in a child's urine. These substances can then form tiny crystals in the kidneys that...

If you are experiencing a constant need to urinate, painful urination, blood or pus in your urine or abdominal, side or back pain accompanied by a fever, you may have a kidney infection. While...

Uric acid stones are a type of kidney stones. They are extremely painful. Some people are more prone to this condition than others. In many cases uric acid stones develop due to diets that are...

Liver enzymes are proteins that assist in accelerating chemical reactions in the liver, according to the Health Scout Network. High levels of liver enzymes can be related to numerous medical...

Tuberous sclerosis is rare condition that may cause tumors to grow in the kidneys. It progresses slowly and may take years for the condition to produce any symptoms. Once symptoms are noticed, it...

Bruised kidney symptoms may be the result of physical injury, exposure to toxins or infection, potentially leading to an array of complications if left untreated. Bruised kidneys commonly present...

The kidneys function to balance electrolytes and minerals such as sodium that enter the body, with healthy kidneys able to distinguish and eliminate high levels of sodium as waste through urine.

The function of the kidneys is to filter the blood to remove excess fluids and wastes. Acute renal (kidney) failure is when the kidneys lose the ability to conserve electrolytes, concentrate urine...

There are two forms of polycystic kidney disease. Autosomal dominant PKD is a genetic disorder that is present at birth but typically refrains from showing symptoms until adulthood. Autosomal...

Kidney cysts and high blood pressure go together as significant elements of polycystic kidney disease, a disorder in which fluid-filled cysts grow and damage the kidneys and other crucial organs....

An ultrasound test is the preferred way for physicians to scan for the cysts that are dominant in polycystic kidney disease. But smaller cysts sometimes require the more in-depth view available...

Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis, or FSGS, occurs when scarring impairs the kidney's ability to filter blood. People with a family member who has FSGS face a higher risk of developing this...

According to the National Kidney Foundation, the types of genetic polycystic kidney disease (PKD) are autosomal dominant PKD and autosomal recessive PKD. The dominant version typically remains...

Polycystic kidney disease is a genetic disorder passed from parents to infants. Whether the offending genes are dominant or recessive plays a role in determining if the disease presents itself in...

Alcohol abuse can affect all parts of the body including the kidneys. The exact means of how alcohol changes the kidneys' ability to perform are not fully understood. However, alcohol has the...

Kidneys are central to the body's filtration of waste and production of urine. However, sometimes kidneys fail to develop properly or are impaired by diseases. This can result in abnormally small...