Kidney, Liver & Urinary

Acute kidney injury (AKI), which is defined as sudden increase of serum creatinine levels minimum by 0.3 mg/dL. This occurs in more than 20% of the patients who are hospitalized for the treatment of decompensating cirrhosis of the liver. Patients who have cirrhosis are prone to developing AKI owing to the progressive state of vasodilatory conditions, reduced blood volume and vasoconstrictor hormones stimulation.

The most common AKI in cirrhosis causes are hepatorenal syndrome, pre-renal azotemia, and acute neurosis of the tubular valves.

Major causes of AKI are high blood pressure and diabetes. In this case the patient’s blood becomes highly acidic, the nerves are severely damaged, and there is deterioration of bone tissue, risk of increase in artherosclerosis. The symptoms could be urination in the night, fatigue, itching, cramps, nausea, loss of appetite, breathing difficulty, and swelling in the body and legs. The condition is diagnosed through urine and blood tests.

The treatment of AKI or kidney, liver and urinary is conducted to restrict potassium, sodium, etc. in the diet, use of drugs to correct other diseases like diabetes, high BP, electrolyte imbalances, anemia, and when needed using dialysis or even kidney transplantation.

Many of the diseases can damage the kidneys, liver, and urinary system irreversibly. Acute kidney injury can become a chronic disease of kidney in case kidney function post the recovery after treatment, something that can last more than three months. Therefore, something that causes acute injury of the kidney can cause diseases in the above mentioned organs chronically. Other reasons behind chronic disease of the kidneys include obstruction or blockage of the urinary tract, some kinds of abnormalities in kidney like glomerulonephritis and polycystic kidney disease, and autoimmune diseases like systemic lupus where the antibodies damage all the tiny blood vessels and the kidneys’ tiny tubes.

In case of liver dysfunctions, there are several types of diseases that can be cause damage to the liver. Some of them like acid base disorders bring in either too high or too low pH levels in the blood. Metabolic acidosis is too much of acid in our blood because of poor function of the kidney, which causes the pH to go down. In the same manner, metabolic alkalosis is excess of base which causes the pH level to go up.

The disease alcoholic fatty liver would signal extra fat in liver. This is a predominant disease with too much alcohol where fat builds up inside the liver cells making it harder for normal liver function. Then there is a symptom where the liver is inflamed due to excessive use of alcohol and causes alcoholic hepatitis.

When the immune system of the body attacks the liver, resulting in inflammation, it causes autoimmune liver sicknesses. In case you leave it untreated, this may eventually lead to liver cirrhosis graduating to liver cancer followed by failure. Then there is cirrhosis of liver developing over a certain period because of prolonged damage of liver. Moreover, electrolyte disorders could result in severe liver related diseases. Electrolytes are vital naturally occurring chemicals in our body like chloride, calcium, phosphate, sodium, potassium, and magnesium. In almost all cases, healthy kidneys can regulate electrolyte levels inside the blood. Electrolyte disorder happens in case the levels of electrolytes are too low or high. Ultimately, liver failure is one life-threatening situation where most of the livers are either not functioning or damaged.

At Suresh Hospital, there is a special unit for kidney, liver and urinary system, where specialist physicians and surgeons work day and night to provide you best possible cure. There are trained medical staffs who deal with the patients with lot of attention and care. The hospital’s best part is the latest diagnostic centres, laboratories and operation theatres where all the international standard of service is provided.