What are the causes of kidney failure?

What are the causes of kidney failure?

Kidney failure may occur from an intense situation that injures the kidneys or from chronic diseases that gradually cause the kidneys to stop functioning.

In acute renal failure, kidney function is lost quickly and can occur from a variety of insults to the body. Since most people have two kidneys, both kidneys must be damaged for complete kidney failure to pass. As luck would have it, if only one kidney fails or is diseased it can be removed, and the remaining kidney may continue to have normal kidney (renal) function. If a both patient's kidneys are injured or diseased, a donor kidney(s) may transplanted.

The list of causes of kidney failure is often categorized based on where the injury has taken place.

Prerenal causes (pre=before + renal=kidney) Causes are due to diminished blood supply to the kidney. Examples ofprerenal causes of kidney failure are:

Hypovolemia (low blood volume) Due to blood lossDehydration from loss of body fluid (for example, vomiting, diarrhea, sweating, feverPoor intake of fluidsMedication, for instance, diuretics ("water pills") May have excessive water lossAbnormal blood flow to and from the kidney due to obstruction of the renal artery or vein. 

Renal causes of kidney failure (damage directly to the kidney itself) include:

Sepsis: The body's immune system is overwhelmed from infection and causes inflammation and shutdown of the kidneys. This normally does not occur with simple urinary tract infections.

Medications: Some medications are toxic to the kidney including:

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs(NSAIDs) Like ibuprofen (Advil, ibuprofen, and others), and naproxen (Aleve,NaprosynAntibiotics like aminoglycosidesgentamicin (Garamycin), tobramycinlithium (Eskalith, LithobidIodine-containing medications such as those injected for radiology dye studies

Rhabdomyolysis: This is a position in which there is a significant muscle breakdown in the body, and the damaged muscle fibers clog the filtering system of the kidneys. Massive muscle injury may happen because of trauma, crush injuries, and burns. Some medicines used to treat high cholesterol may causerhabdomyolysis.

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Acute glomerulonephritis or inflammation of the glomeruli, the filtering system of the kidneys. Many diseases can cause this inflammation including:

Systemic lupus erythematosusWegener's granulomatosisGoodpasture syndrome.

Hemolytic uremic syndrome: This condition results from abnormal destruction of red blood cells. It most frequently occurs in children after certain infections, but also may be caused by medications,pregnancy, or can occur for unknown reasons.

Post renal causes of kidney failure(post=after + renal= kidney) Are due to genes that affect outflow of the urine:

Blockage of the bladder or the ureters can cause back pressure because the kidneys continue to produce urine, but the obstruction acts like a dam, and urine backs up into the kidneys. When the pressure increases high enough, the kidneys are damaged and shut down.Prostatic hypertrophy or prostate cancer may block the urethra and prevents the bladder from emptying.Tumors in the abdomen that surround and close up the ureters.
Kidney stones. Usually, kidney stones affect only one kidney and do not cause kidney failure. Yet, if there is only one kidney present, a kidney stone may cause the remaining kidney to fail.

Chronic renal failure develops over months and years. The most usual causes of chronic renal failure are related to:

poorly controlled diabetes,poorly controlled high blood pressure, andchronic glomerulonephritis.

Less common reasons of chronic renal failure include:

Polycystic kidney diseaseReflux nephropathy (damage done by urine backflow from the bladder into the ureters and kidney) Nephrotic syndromeAlport's diseaseInterstitial nephritisKidney stonesProstate disease