Nephrology
Content
Description
Nephrology focuses on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of kidney and urinary system diseases. A nephrologist takes care of patients who have kidney failure, need dialysis, or are in care after a kidney transplant.
A patient is usually referred to a nephrologist by a Primary care physican (General practitioner) for kidney problems - they are most often diagnosed based on the results of a blood test (urea and creatinine - substances that the kidneys should remove in the urine - are excreted in the body).
Urine is often changed - it has the wrong composition and quantity (it contains protein, blood, albumin). The urine has a different color, is foamy, or smells.
Facts
- Outpatient examination
- Examination lasts 30 minutes
The role of the kidneys is to clean the blood from metabolic waste products - urine is formed, which is excreted through the urinary tract.
The most common kidney diseases include:
- Infection (nephritis, glomerulonephritis)
- Acute and chronic kidney failure
- Nephrotic syndrome (damage to the kidney glomeruli)
- Kidney stones and renal colic
- Congenital conditions (polycystic kidneys, missing kidney)
- Kidney tumors
Kidney damage is often caused by uncompensated diabetes, untreated high blood pressure and infection.
The nephrologist first obtains detailed information about the patient's symptoms, medications, surgeries, and hospital stays.
During the examination, doctor checks for swelling of legs and arms (swelling of the extremities is common with kidney damage), measures blood pressure, and pulse.
- Takes blood and urine samples for laboratory testing
- Performs or evaluates ultrasound (sonography) of the kidneys
- Adjusts the amount and dosage of medications for failing kidneys (many medications are excreted by the kidneys - if the kidneys are damaged, the medications remain in the body longer and overdose may occur)
- Determines the need for dialysis and supervises its course
- Adjusts the patient's regimen and provides long-term care
