Expansion of Interstitial Fibrosis in Kidney Disease

The kidneys cleanse waste materials and water from the blood. Any dysfunction in the kidneys can leads to wastes piling up in the body. A patient suffering from kidney disease would face a host of other conditions, including high levels of wastes in the blood and other parts of the body. Kidney disease or dysfunction is directly connected with another major condition -- interstitial fibrosis -- which may turn from mild to chronic in patients with kidney problems.

Definition

• Interstitial fibrosis refers to the damage sustained by the kidneys' renal tubules and interstitial capillaries due to accumulation of extracellular waste in the wall of the small arteries and arterioles. In simpler terms, it refers to scarring of the kidney tissues due to reasons such as kidney dysfunction or injury. Interstitial fibrosis starts at the very onset of kidney disease and shares a mutually progressive relationship with the condition; as kidney disease progresses, so does interstitial fibrosis and vice versa.

Progression

• Accumulation of waste due to reduced kidney function is the primary cause of interstitial fibrosis. It is also the main reason behind progression or expansion of the condition. When the kidneys suffer any kind of damage, there is a reduction in their ability to process and clear waste from the body. This damage could be on account of diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, or infection, inflammation, genetic deficiencies or drug affected. Whatever the reason, the kidneys start accumulating waste, which then leads to scarring of the tissue and the progression of interstitial fibrosis.

Symptoms

• The basic symptoms of renal or kidney interstitial fibrosis are the same as those of advancing kidney disease. They include changes in urination pattern with trouble urinating; swelling in the limbs; acute hair fall; extreme lethargy and fatigue; skin rash; taste changes including metallic taste in the mouth; severe nausea; dizziness; and leg pain. These symptoms are not comprehensive and there might be other symptoms depending on the stage of the condition and patient physiology.

Diagnosis

• Interstitial fibrosis does not show any visible symptoms at the very start and so it is very hard to detect. However, certain people are considered at high risk for interstitial fibrosis on account of their family history of the disease. Such individuals should undergo routine urine, blood and imaging tests to detect any traces of interstitial fibrosis. Periodic testing is the only means of detecting this condition in a timely fashion.

Prevention

• There is no known effective method of preventing either kidney disease or the associated expansion of interstitial fibrosis. However, certain precautions can be taken by high-risk individuals to slow the progression of the conditions. These include periodic check-ups to detect the conditions and start treatment. Patients with diabetes and hypertension should get proper treatment for these conditions. Patients with kidney problems should also ideally stay away from non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). A study by Dr. Kleinknecht, published in the May 1995 issue of Semin Nephrol, shows that NSAIDs can lead to acute interstitial fibrosis.