Archive for the 'Urology' Category

Did you ever think why are you suffering with diabetes or high blood pressure? There can be a wide range of causes for you to experience high blood pressure or even diabetes.

But, the most common factor, which can increase your risk of high blood pressure and diabetes, is renal artery stenosis.

Renal artery stenosis is the condition where the main blood supplying arteries of your kidneys gets narrowed or blocked because of fat or cholesterol accumulation.

This accumulation of fat or cholesterol significantly impairs the blood flow through kidneys and results in impaired kidney function.

Subsequently, this impaired functioning of your kidneys progresses to severe high blood pressure or diabetes.

In general, each kidney in your body gets it blood flow through an important artery called renal artery that arises from aorta, a major blood vessel of your heart. So, if one of the both renal arteries narrows, it will eventually cause decreased blood flow to the kidney. This narrowing of renal arteries is mainly referred as renal artery stenosis.

Hormonal response!

When the volume of blood flow to your kidneys is reduced, it mainly results in hormonal response in your body. This hormonal system is stimulated as a defense against low blood pressure in your renal system.

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When your kidneys are unable to do some of their works, kidney dialysis helps to do the work of your kidneys.

Mainly, the functions of kidneys include: removing waste products from your blood, removing excess fluids, restoring the levels of electrolytes and controlling your blood pressure.

Basically there are two types of kidney dialysis: peritoneal and hemo dialysis. During the day of dialysis you will feel tired. The next day after dialysis, your tiredness will decrease and you get more energy.

You need to have kidney dialysis at least three times a week and 3-4 hours for each time. The good news about dialysis is that the dialysis doesn’t have to last forever for some people. You can also try for kidney transplant, but you need to prepare for lots of tests before you receive the new kidney.

This life saver process helps in cleaning your body and you will get rid of what your body can’t do on its own any more.

Hemodialysis:

Most of the people have a force in their arm where they catch up the dialysis machine. On one side of the dialysis machine the dialystate is going to flow and on the other side your blood is going to flow and after cleansing the blood, it returns to you.

According to the new research acknowledging 2007 National Health Grand Award, 18.5 percent people are at risk of having chronic kidney failure and other vascular diseases.

This research involved 97 percent of the municipality population including senior citizens and children.

Blood pressure affects the decline in kidney failure and diabetes can also lead to kidney failure.

The management of kidney disease is very difficult and it sometimes can lead to different types of other issues.

Depending on the condition, there are two types of kidney failure. One is acute and the other is chronic.

Sudden and complete loss of kidney function is acute kidney failure and gradual decrease of kidney function in both kidneys is chronic kidney failure.

Treatment Choices To Replace The Function Of Failed Kidneys:

There are different types of treatments present for those who are suffering from kidney failure.

Hemodialysis. The purpose of hemodialysis is cleaning and filtering blood to free the body from harmful wastes, extra salts, and extra wastes temporarily by using a machine.

Hemodialysis helps to balance the important chemicals like potassium, calcium, bicarbonates, etc in the body and also helps controlling blood pressure.

An infection or inflammation of one or both the kidneys is kidney infection.

Pyelonephritis and glomerulonephritis are the two major kidney disorders caused due to kidney infection.

The infection usually starts in the bladder. From there the infection travels through the tubes to the kidneys.

Kidney infection can lead to kidney failure

Cystitis is a common bladder disease, which can cause kidney infection if untreated or not diagnosed immediately.

Considering the anatomy of the urinary tract, the kidneys are located on each side of the abdomen, partially covered by lower ribs. Kidneys make urine and flows through the tubes (ureters) down into the bladder.

The bladder is typically the size of a large grapefruit. Bladder holds the urine until it gets fill. The sphincter muscles when relaxed allow the urine pass out of the body emptying the bladder.

In this process, in males the urine passes from the urethra through the prostate gland and then through the penis. When considering the distance, in males it takes long time to travel the urine to pass out of the body when compared to women.

Kidney stones are one of the most common urologic disorders.

The medical term for this urinary tract disorder depends on its location.

The most common terms are nephrolithiasis, urolithiasis, ureterolithiasis, renal calcui, urinary calculi, or urinary tract stone disease.

It is found that men are more likely to develop kidney stones than women.

People who have had kidney stones have chances of developing another one within five years.

Formation of kidney stones:

Kidney stones are hardest mineral deposits that form in one or both kidneys. Kidneys are the bean-shaped organs located just below the rib cage near the middle of your back, on the sides of the spinal column.

The kidneys remove extra water and waste products from the blood, producing urine. Normally, these waste materials dissolve in the urine completely and pass out of the body.

On the other hand, when these waste materials in the urine do not dissolve completely, it become solidify and forms crystals inside the kidney.

Urine normally contains chemicals (pyrophosphates, citrates, and magnesium) that inhibit or prevent the formation of crystals, but for some the inhibitor level will be very low and cannot be able to prevent the formation of crystals. Thus the formed crystals develop into stones.

Your kidneys are the important organs that perform many functions to keep your blood clean and chemically balanced.

They play an important role in keeping your blood pressure in a healthy range, and blood pressure in turn can affect your kidneys’ health.

High blood pressure can damage your kidneys.

How High blood pressure can damage your kidneys?

Your heart works harder with high blood pressure and it can damage blood vessels throughout your body. Removal of wastes and extra fluids from your body will be stopped when blood vessels in your kidneys are damaged.

Extra fluid which is not removed from blood vessels can raise the blood pressure more. Hypertension is a leading cause of kidney problem, also called as end stage renal disease (ESRD). When your kidney fails, kidney transplant or dialysis is needed.

High blood pressure or hypertension can permanently damage tiny blood vessels in the nephrons of the kidneys. The damage keeps your kidneys from working as well as they should over time. If blood pressure is high, the damage becomes worse and functions of the kidney will continue to drop.

Damaged kidneys increase the level of blood pressure. If your kidneys are healthy, they can control your blood pressure.

Urinary tract infection is a bacterial infection that affects any part of the urinary tract. Urinary tract infections are treated with oral antibiotics. Different antibiotics are available depending on the condition, whether the infection is complicated or not.

Antibiotics for urinary tract infection:

Trimethoprim:

Trimethoprim is an antibiotic used in the treatment of bladder infection. The action of bacterial dihydrofolate reductase is interfered by trimethoprim and inhibits synthesis of tetrahydrofolic acid. In the de novo synthesis of DNA nucleotide thymidine, tetrahydrofolic acid is essential precursor.

Trimethoprim is used commonly in combination with sulfamethoxazole, a sulfonamide antibiotic, which inhibits an earlier step in the folate synthesis pathway.

Cephalosporins:

Cephalosporins are antibiotics for treating infection of urinary tract. These are used for treating infections that are caused by susceptible organisms. First generation cephalosporins are active against gram positive bacteria. Adverse effects of this drug are nausea, rash, diarrhea and pain.

For older adults, increased urinary frequency is fairly common. “As people age, in general, the bladder does lose some of its capacity. The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that the condition affects about 200 million people worldwide.At least one out of every 10 people over the age of 65 experiences UI. Despite its prevalence, the stigma surrounding UI causes many people to hide the fact that they have the problem, even though it can significantly affect their quality of life.For related information on treatment options of urinary incontinence, visit:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com

Urinary incontinence is common in elderly people. Urinary incontinence is caused by many factors. Stress, medications, urge and overflow can cause urinary incontinence.

Stress incontinence:

It is caused due to the increase in pressure from within the abdomen such as when sneezing, laughing, coughing and lifting heavy weights. This can happen when pelvic muscles are weakened.

Medications:

Some medications such as high blood pressure drugs such as doxazosin and prazosin and muscle relaxants can cause urinary incontinence.

Urge incontinence:

In this type, you feel strong urge to pass urine in small amounts. This occurs due to the bladder wall muscle called as detrusor muscle, which will be overactive. It contracts to squeeze out urine before bladder is full.

Cystitis is another name for bladder infection. It is the infection and inflammation of the urinary bladder. So, it is also called as urinary tract infection (UTI).

Don’t get confused with both the names. Mainly it is a bacterial infection that affects any part of the urinary tract.

There are many types of cystitis among which bacterial cystitis, interstitial cystitis, and hemorrhagic cystitis are few types.

Bladder infection is the most common type of urinary tract infection. Kidney infection is another type of UTI and also called as pyelonephritis. It is a serious condition and if recognized early and treated, you can protect your kidney from damaging permanently.

According to the studies, one in every five women will develop bladder infection. When you are affected with this problem, you will feel like you need to urinate frequently and incontinence is possible. You will also experience burning pain while urinating and you will observe blood in the urine.

Some people think that bladder infection is the result of faulty anatomy or having too much sex. It is totally wrong and it is just the result of an automatic failure to clear the contents of the bladder efficiently during emptying.

Obesity can increase the risk of urinary stone formation. Kidney or urinary stones are formed out of crystals in the urine.

The stones will be in the solid form, which are formed from the substances excreted in urine.

When these waste substances do not dissolve completely in urine, they form into microscopic particles and slowly grow into stones.

When water and other substances are out of balance, such as from dehydration, substances present stick together and build up to form stones.

In many cases, crystals will be very small and pass out your body without any harm. Sometimes, these crystals build up inside your kidney and larger stones will be formed.

Once the stone becomes too large, urine flow will be blocked to come out of kidney and therefore it can cause pain, pressure and infection. If the stone moves through the ureter tube from the kidney, it causes pain.

While moving if the stone gets stuck, infection occurs. Based on the size and place of stone, kidney damage can be caused if kidney stones are left untreated. When acid levels of the urine are too high, uric acid kidney stones will be formed.