Chronic Renal Failure Diagnosis

Chronic renal failure is a slow, gradual loss of kidney function, caused by increasing damage to the kidney's internal structure. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), chronic renal failure affects more than two out of 1,000 people in the United States each year. Because chronic renal failure leads to serious complications such as congestive heart failure, liver failure, and kidney failure, an early diagnosis is important, which allows doctors to recommend treatments to slow down its progression.

Symptoms

• Symptoms may alert doctors that there is a possible problem with the kidneys, including chronic renal disease. Symptoms they look for include fatigue, feelings of general illness, itching, headache, nausea, vomiting, unintentional weight loss and frequent hiccups. They may also look for bloody vomit or stools, signs of decreased alertness, decreases sensations in the feet or hands, easy bruising, easy bleeding, muscle twitching, cramps, seizures, decreased or increased urine output, and the development of white crystals on or in the skin, called uremic frost.

Tests

• If doctors suspect the patient has chronic renal failure, a set of tests are administered to confirm its existence. Ultrasound imaging, which uses high frequency sound waves to produce computer images of the kidneys, show its shape and structure. Computerized tomography (CT) scans create more detailed images than ultrasound imaging and X-rays, allowing the doctor to pinpoint any abnormalities.

  Magnetic resonance imaging also produces images of the kidneys by using radio waves and a magnetic field. Kidney biopsy is used to make a specific diagnosis, performed by removing a small portion of kidney tissue for evaluation under a microscope.

Other Tests

• According to the Mayo Clinic, the doctor confirms the diagnosis by performing a blood tests, which checks creatinine and urea levels. Consistently high levels may strongly indicate chronic renal failure.

Abnormalities

• They also check other abnormalities by performing a creatinine clearance test, which tests for a decrease in creatinine clearance. Another test, called a arterial blood gas and blood chemistry analysis, is also used to find metabolic acidosis, which also can indicate chronic renal failure.

Complications

• Doctors also use the existence of other health problems when making the diagnosis. Health problems that cause chronic renal failure include diabetes, high blood pressure, Alport syndrome, analgesic nephropathy, glomerulonephritis, kidney stones, kidney infection, obstructive uropathy, polycystic kidney disease and reflux nephropathy.