Chronic Renal Failure - Causes, Stages, Treatment

2024 Author: Rachel Wainwright | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 07:39

Chronic renal failure

Brief description of the disease

Chronic renal failure is a slow, gradual decrease in kidney function up to complete death (necrosis) of the renal tissue as a result of the spread of the pathological process. Today, the disease occurs in 200-500 people out of one million inhabitants of the Earth, however, existing studies allow us to conclude that in the coming years the number of patients who require treatment for chronic renal failure will increase by 10-12%.

The causes of chronic renal failure

In the overwhelming majority of cases, damage to the renal tissue occurs due to various diseases:

• kidney disease, including chronic pyelonephritis and glomerulonephritis;
• diabetes mellitus, amyloidosis and other diseases associated with metabolic disorders;
• hereditary kidney disease;
• scleroderma, systemic lupus erythematosus;
• diseases leading to impaired renal blood flow, including arterial hypertension

All of the above inflammatory and infectious diseases cause the death of nephrons, the main working cells of the renal tissue. As a consequence, this leads to disturbances in the water-electrolyte balance in the body, disruptions in the metabolic process, acidosis and other serious consequences.

Stages of chronic renal failure

• latent - patients do not make any special complaints. Some people have: increased fatigue, dry mouth, weakness, protein in the urine and changes in the electrolyte composition of the blood;
• compensated - complaints of patients become more frequent, since the symptoms begin to manifest themselves much brighter. In addition, a person has an increased urine output (up to 2.5 liters per day) and unfavorable changes are found in the analysis of blood;
• intermittent - a steady increase in the products of nitrogen metabolism in the blood, the level of urea and creatinine is recorded. Patients feel weakness, thirst, dry mouth and decreased appetite, rapid fatigue with the smallest physical exertion. Human skin becomes jaundiced;
• the terminal stage - the kidneys no longer cope with the processing and removal of harmful substances, the electrolyte composition of the blood is disturbed, the level of creatinine, urea and uric acid rises very much. All this leads to uremia, that is, the amount of urine excreted per day is reduced to the lowest possible limits. At this stage, chronic renal failure leads to damage to all major body systems, including the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.

With a prolonged course of the disease, nitrogenous metabolic products begin to be excreted with sweat, and a constant smell of urine is felt from the patient. We also note that inadequate treatment of chronic renal failure or its complete absence leads to irreversible changes and the need for a kidney transplant.

Chronic renal failure treatment

The main activities are aimed at slowing the progression of the disease. For this purpose (regardless of the stage of chronic renal failure), doctors, first of all, identify the cause of the onset of the disease and work to eliminate it. At the same time, the patient is assigned a special regime of work and rest, a strict diet, taking medications, mainly anabolic steroids and Lespenephril.

In the event that chronic renal failure has developed to the thermal stage, standard conservative treatment methods do not bring a satisfactory result. During this period, it is necessary to remove the accumulated metabolic products from the patient's blood. As a rule, hemodialysis is used to solve this complex problem - a person's blood passes through a special system in which it contacts with dialysis solution and gets rid of harmful substances, after which it returns back to the patient's circulatory system. During the week, it is desirable for the patient to carry out at least 3 dialysis sessions lasting 3-5 hours.

Medical studies carried out in the largest clinics in the world show that with the help of hemodialysis, the life expectancy of patients with diagnosed chronic kidney failure increases to 25 years.

Often there are situations when chronic renal failure leads to complete necrosis of kidney tissues, and they can no longer perform their functions even with the provision of constant, qualified medical care. In such cases, the most radical method of treatment should be used - a healthy kidney transplant.

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The information is generalized and provided for informational purposes only. At the first sign of illness, see your doctor. Self-medication is hazardous to health!