Kidney/renal failure

Kidney/renal failure

For types of kidney failure and the causes, you can read here.

 

There are two types of kidney failure:

Acute kidney failure

            Kidney deteriorates rapidly within a day or a week. It shows much more symptoms and high death rate than in chronic kidney disease. However, if it is in non-severe, the kidneys can be normal.

 

Chronic kidney failure

            The kidneys are permanently destroyed, causing the gradual shrinkage of kidneys. Although the symptoms are stable, but the kidneys will gradually deteriorate and eventually turn into chronic renal failure.

 

Causes of chronic kidney disease

Currently, patients with kidney disease turn into late stage of chronic kidney disease with the causes as follows:

1. Diabetes.

2. High blood pressure and capillary nephritis, such as Systemic Lupus Erythematosus disease.

3. Other causes include

• Kidney stones

• Chronic nephritis due to infection.

• Gout

• Kidney disease due to continuous taking painkillers for a long time.

• Hereditary polycystic disease

 

These various causes often cause disease on both kidneys at the same time.

 

Written by Prof. Dr. Leena Ongartyuth,

Department of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine

Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, President of the Kidney Association of Thailand