Causes of Diabetic Nephropathy
Diabetic
nephropathy occurs when diabetes disease damages blood vessels and other cells
in your kidneys.
How the kidneys work
Your kidneys
contain millions of tiny blood vessels (glomeruli) that filter out toxins and
impurities from your blood. Severe damage to these blood vessels can cause
Diabetic Nephropathy, decreased renal function and kidney failure.
Causes of Diabetic Nephropathy
Diabetic
nephropathy is a common complication of diabetes, in type 1 and 2 diabetes.
Over time high
blood sugar, associated with uncontrolled or untreated diabetes can cause high
blood pressure. Furthermore, this will damage the kidneys by increasing the
pressure on the kidney filtering system (glomeruli)
Risk factors Diabetic Nephropathy
Several factors
may increase your Diabetic Nephropathy risk, including:
• Diabetes,
type 1 or 2
• High blood
sugar (hyperglycemia)
• High blood
pressure (hypertension)
• Smokers and
diabetics
• High blood
cholesterol levels and diabetes
• Family
history of diabetes and kidney disease
Complications of Diabetic Nephropathy
Diabetic
Nephropathy Complications can occur gradually over months or years. These
include:
• Fluid
retention, which can cause swelling in the arms and legs, high blood pressure,
or fluid in your lungs (pulmonary edema)
• Increase in
potassium levels in your blood (hyperkalemia)
• Heart and
blood vessel disease (cardiovascular disease), may lead to stroke
• Damage to the
blood vessels of the eye (diabetes retinopathy)
• Anemia (lack
of blood)
• Foot wounds,
erectile dysfunction, diarrhea and other problems associated with damaged
nerves and blood vessels
• Complications
of pregnancy that pose a risk to the developing mother and fetus
• Irreversible
damage to your kidneys (end-stage renal disease), which ultimately requires
dialysis or kidney transplantation to survive.
Diagnosis of Diabetic Nephropathy
If there are
signs and symptoms, as well as the above-mentioned risk factors, you can check
with your family doctor. Physical examination, and interviews pertaining to
your medical history are required to determine the next course of action. Your
family doctor may refer you to a specialist kidney (nephrologist) or diabetes
specialist (endocrinologist).
To find out if
you have diabetes kidney disease, you may need certain tests and procedures,
such as:
• Blood tests.
If you have diabetes, you need a blood test to monitor your condition and
determine how well your kidneys work.
• Urine test. The urine sample provides
information about your kidney function and whether you have too much protein in
the urine. A high level of protein called microalbumin may indicate that your
kidney is exposed to diabetic kidney disease.
• Imaging
tests. Your doctor may use X-rays and ultrasound to assess the structure and
size of your kidneys. You may also have CT scans and magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI) to determine how well the blood circulates in your kidneys. Other imaging
tests can be used in some cases.
• Kidney
function testing. Your doctor can assess your kidney screening capacity by
using renal analysis analysis.
• Kidney
biopsy. Renal tissue retrieval may be necessary for further examination of the
microscopic renal structure.
How is the
treatment of this disease?
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