Renal failure causes and Renal failure symptoms

Renal Failure Causes

Impaired blood supply to the kidneys is considered to be an important precursor for renal failure. Renal failure causes have been critical in understanding the pathophysiology of various other conditions linked with the renal physiology.

Risk factors for renal failure include :
1. Dehydration
2. Chronically high blood pressure
3. Drugs
4. Inflammation within the blood vessels i.e. vasculitis
5. Heart disease
6. Burns
7. Liver disease
8. Chronic kidney disease

Renal failure causes also include those due to obstruction in the kidneys like kidney stones, bladder cancer, urethral strictures and prostate cancer. Also congenital causes like polycystic kidney disease or hydronephrosis can lead to renal failure by virtue of urinary tract obstruction. Peritoneal dialysis for waste products has been advised for patients who are not hemodynamically stable for a kidney transplant.

Renal Failure Symptoms

Presentation of renal failure can sometimes be accompanied by no symptoms but when there are renal failure symptoms, they are not easy to miss.

Symptoms of renal failure are as follows :
1. Decreased urinary output
2. Pedal edema (swelling in the legs due to improper fluid excretion by kidneys)

Renal failure symptoms due to extra renal causes include unexplained difficulty in breathing, nausea, chest pain and even seizures. Sometimes, loss of appetite is a complaint among patients of kidney failure too. Common blood tests used to rule out any kidney damage is renal function tests which if deranged is quite diagnostic of impaired kidney function.