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According to experts, 4,2 million Poles suffer from kidney disease, of which 95 percent. he doesn’t know about it. Most patients die prematurely without having dialysis or a transplant. Here are the five most serious kidney diseases.
Kidney cancer
Renal malignant neoplasms can be divided into primary and secondary, and the most common of them is renal cell carcinoma (RCC), which accounts for about 90 percent. all malignant kidney tumors. The disease develops insidiously and rarely gives clinical symptoms, which means that it is most often diagnosed late. About 25-40 percent. of patients, kidney cancer is detected in the asymptomatic period on the basis of an accidentally performed examination. The average age of patients is around 60 years.
The factors that increase the risk of developing the disease include: smoking, obesity, low physical activity, arterial hypertension, chronic use of painkillers, and exposure to certain chemical factors (heavy metals, tannins, asbestos). Surgical removal of the kidney is the basic method of combat in the initial stage of the disease. If the cancer is at an advanced stage and has already metastasized, the best results are achieved with combination therapy in the form of irradiation with simultaneous intake of anti-angiogenic drugs.
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Lupus nephritis
Lupus nephritis develops in about 2/3 of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), which is one of the systemic diseases of the connective tissue (the so-called collagen diseases). Nephritis typically affects the glomeruli (a type of glomerulonephritis), but can also affect the renal tubules and parenchymal tissue. Young women (between 20 and 40 years of age) suffer most often, but the disease can occur in both sexes at any age. Initially, lupus nephritis presents only with abnormal urine test results in which protein, red blood cells, and granular cells are present. Swelling of the feet and lower legs, face and high blood pressure may also occur over time.
Treatment of lupus nephritis involves the use of immunosuppressants, which suppress the immune system and reduce the production of autoantibodies. Although in most patients the therapy allows for complete or partial remission of the disease, in 10-30% patients are unable to improve and progressive disease leads to severe and irreversible renal failure. In this situation, renal replacement therapy or kidney transplantation is necessary.
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Acute renal failure
Defined by the abbreviation ONN is a disease syndrome characterized by the deterioration of kidney function leading to the accumulation of waste products in the body. It has a rapid course and the most common symptom is a reduction in the volume of urine excreted, the so-called oliguria, or even complete absence (anuria). Other symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea and fatigue. Acute renal failure is the most common complication of other serious disease states, such as multiple organ trauma, bloodstream infection (sepsis), severe failure of other organs (e.g. heart, liver), severe dehydration, major surgery.
Mortality among patients with acute renal failure is very high and reaches 50%, which is mainly due to poor prognosis associated with diseases that are its direct cause. Most patients who survive improve their kidney function. However, nearly half of them suffer from permanent impairment of kidney function – about 5% of them. In patients, permanent kidney damage is so severe that continuous renal replacement therapy is required.
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Polycystic kidney disease
A genetically determined disease manifested by the presence of numerous cysts in the cortex and medulla of the kidney. The two main types of polycystic kidney disease are the autosomal dominant form (ADPKD) and the autosomal recessive form (ARPKD). The first one is asymptomatic for many years and is relatively often discovered accidentally during imaging examinations of the abdominal organs for other reasons. When the number and size of cysts are so large that the normal renal parenchyma disappears, renal failure develops, requiring renal replacement therapy. Some patients also have post-renal changes: liver cysts, aneurysms of intracranial arteries and pancreatic cysts. On the other hand, the second form of polycystic kidney disease – ARPKD, appears already in the perinatal and neonatal periods and is associated with high mortality.
Renal amyloidosis
In other words, amyloidosis is a severe systemic disease caused by the accumulation of amyloid in many organs – an abnormal protein produced by the patient’s body. Amyloid builds up between all cells in the body as abnormal microscopic filaments, leading to organ damage. There are several types of amyloidosis, but the symptoms of kidney damage are present in patients with primary amyloidosis (AL) and secondary amyloidosis (AA). Protein with an abnormal structure builds up in the glomeruli and kidney tubules, which causes protein loss in the urine and kidney failure. Currently, a complete cure is not possible, one can only try to stop the progression of the disease. When kidney amyloidosis causes severe kidney failure, dialysis is used. Due to general poor health and damage to other organs of the body, kidney transplantation is usually not possible.
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Read also:
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