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NetWellness provides the highest quality health information and education services created and evaluated by faculty of our partner universities.
Monday, October 6, 2008
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NetWellness provides the highest quality health information and education services created and evaluated by faculty of our partner universities.
Monday, October 6, 2008
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Kidney Diseases |
Contracted left kidney05/06/2008 12:03PM |
My brother, age=34, height=161 cm, weight=47 kg, is suffering from contracted left kidney due to hypertention. On the date April 16, 2008 his blood report and ultrasound report show contracted left kidney size=-4.1x2.3 cm and bulky right kidney size=10.1x4.7 cm, Blood Pressure=160/100, blood urea=47, creatinine=1.5.
We met another doctor on April 20, 2008 and his DTPA scan and blood report show the left kidney practically non-functioning and the right kidney non-obstructed with good cortical function.
GFR: left kidney=1.61 ml/minute, right kidney=39.76 ml/minute Depth: left kidney=4.55 cm, right kidney=4.58 cm Area: left kidney=20.33 cm2, right kidney=56.31 cm2 Uric acid=7.5, Phosphorus=1.8, creatinine=1.2, Blood Pressure=140/90.
Doctor advised some medicine and also advised to take low protein and low quantity salt diet. At present, his blood urea=26, creatinine=1.19, Phosphorus=1.8, Blood Pressure=110/70. Please advise: 1)Whether contracted left kidney can be cured? Is there any effect on the functioning of the right kidney? 2) Can proper treatment stop total failure of kidney?
Your brother's left kidney is very small and scarred, and has been damaged beyond repair. It may even be the cause (or part of the cause) of his hypertension. In situations where only one kidney is working, that kidney can usually do a good job if it is a normal kidney. However, the ultrasound, DTPA scan, and blood tests indicate that your brother's right kidney is not working normally either (because the GFR of that kidney should be at least 50-70 ml/min). So the right kidney may have been damaged by hypertension also.
Keeping your brother's blood pressure under good control will be a very important part of his care, because that may allow his remaining kidney function to be preserved. However, it is possible that his right kidney has been damaged enough so that it will slowly lose its function and he may need dialysis in the future. His kidney doctor may also recommend that the left kidney be removed, since it is hardly working at all, and since it may be producing a substance called renin that cause his hypertension to be worse.
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Mildred Lam, MD Associate Professor Nephrology Division MetroHealth Medical Center School of Medicine Case Western Reserve University |
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