Nephrology Definition

Nephrology comes from the Greek word nephros, which means kidney. Nephrology literally means the "study of the kidney," but as a branch of medicine it includes studying the anatomy and physiology of the kidney and learning to diagnose and treat the different types of kidney diseases.

Definition

• A healthy human body has two kidneys that are responsible for filtering toxins out of the blood and removing wastes, excess nutrients and fluids from the body through urine. The kidneys regulate blood pressure by maintaining a balance of fluids and nutrients such as potassium and calcium. These are critical functions, so failure of the kidneys creates a life-threatening circumstance.

Kidney Disease

• Nephrologists treat four categories of kidney disease. The first category is kidney disease caused by diabetes and the second is high blood pressure. According to the American Society of Nephrology, diabetes accounts for more than 40 percent and high blood pressure is responsible for 26 percent of all new cases of end-stage renal disease. These two conditions cause chronic kidney disease that damages the kidneys, allowing wastes to build in the blood and failing to maintain proper blood pressure. Glomerulonephritis and cysts are the last two types of kidney disease.

Glomerulonephritis

• Glomerulonephritis is a disorder of the glomeruli in the kidneys. These are the kidney's filters, and in this disease they become inflamed and slowly lose their ability to remove wastes and excess water. Almost half of the people have no symptoms. If they do appear, the first symptom is tissue swelling due to fluid retention, especially in the face and legs. Blood pressure starts to go up and headaches or seizures can result. Unfortunately, the kidney can already be damaged before symptoms become noticeable. Glomerulonephritis is often caused by complications from a throat or skin infection. Immune and hereditary disorders can also cause this disease.

Cysts

• Polycystic kidney disease is hereditary and results when cysts form on the kidneys, causing them to become enlarged. As the cysts grow, they interfere with the kidney's ability to function. Over time this leads to chronic high blood pressure and kidney infections. They may also cause the kidneys to increase their production of a hormone that causes the production of red blood cells, resulting in too many red blood cells. Sometimes cysts can bleed and cause pain.

Treatment

• For all types of kidney disease the first course of treatment focuses on the underlying cause and helping the symptoms. Cysts may need to be drained or in severe cases the kidney may need to be surgically removed. For acute kidney failure, temporary dialysis is used to remove excess fluid and control high blood pressure. The only long-term solution is a kidney transplant but when that's not possible, dialysis is the only option.