Medications

ICU antibiotics may be safe for kidneys, says clinical trial

Two "big gun" antibiotics thought to cause kidney failure in ICU patients with a severe bacterial infection, especially when combined with another antibiotic, may be safer for the kidneys than previously reported, following ...

Genetics

Kidney disease gene found to also have a protective mutation

African Americans have long been known to be at increased risk of kidney disease due to a dangerous genetic mutation that creates a hole in the kidney cells, but Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) researchers have ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

New research: Acute kidney damage spreads over time

When our kidneys are acutely damaged, it can cause necrotic injury, which is the death of cells in the kidney. A new study from Aarhus University has now found that the cell damage spreads over several days after the immediate ...

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Renal failure or kidney failure (formerly called renal insufficiency) describes a medical condition in which the kidneys fail to adequately filter toxins and waste products from the blood. The two forms are acute (acute kidney injury) and chronic (chronic kidney disease); a number of other diseases or health problems may cause either form of renal failure to occur.

Renal failure is described as a decrease in glomerular filtration rate. Biochemically, renal failure is typically detected by an elevated serum creatinine level. Problems frequently encountered in kidney malfunction include abnormal fluid levels in the body, deranged acid levels, abnormal levels of potassium, calcium, phosphate, and (in the longer term) anemia as well as delayed healing in broken bones. Depending on the cause, hematuria (blood loss in the urine) and proteinuria (protein loss in the urine) may occur. Long-term kidney problems have significant repercussions on other diseases, such as cardiovascular disease.

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