Basic Knowledge About Renal Failure

Written by docteam Friday, 09 July 2010 20:39

Renal Failure is the inability of the kidneys to perform their normal excretory and regulatory function. The hallmark of the condition is uremia, which may be defined as the retention of urea and other metabolic wastes and the toxis efects produced thereby. These effects include nausea, vomiting, headache, dizziness, dimness of vision, coma, and convulsions.

There are a multitude of underlying causes of renal failure, including hemorrhage, poisoning, enlarge prostate, kidney stones, and inflammation of the glomeruli. If these are correctable, the outlook is good to excellent. The removal of kidney stones, for example, is clearly the answer to renal failure of this origin. When the cause is not correctable or when the limits of effectiveness of conventional therapy have been reached, long-term dialysis or transplantation must be considered.

Dialysis is a fundamental process of physics, whereby smaller molecules are separated from larger molecules in a solution by means of selective diffusion through a semipermeable membrane. Medically speaking, "dialysis" refers to the removal of waste products from the blood by means of an artificial semipermeable membrane (the so-called artificial kidney) or by means of the peritoneum that lines the abdominal cavity (peritoneal dialysis).

In both cases wastes, which are relatively small molecules, diffuse into a cleansing solution or bath while blood cells and blood proteins- because of their large size- remain in circulation. In other words, the blood is cleared of wastes but not at the expense of its vital elements. More than 50,000 Americans have their blood cleansed daily by artificial kidney machines, and a few thousand or so are on peritoneal dialysis.

Even at its best dialysis is a stopgap measure that can prolong life but not overcome and underlying fatal disease. Only kidney transplantation can "cure" chronic renal failure by replacing the diseased kidney with a healthy one. More than 10,000 Americans live with the aid of someone else's kidney, and 15000 to 20000 more are waiting for a suitable organ to become available for transplantation.