AKI is a condition that is common among older adults, and patients in intensive care units.
What exactly is Acute Kidney Injury or AKI?
AKI is the sudden occurrence of kidney damage or failure – it can happen within a few days or even hours. Due to AKI, a build-up of waste products in your blood is caused, making it difficult for your kidneys to maintain the right fluid balance in your body. Besides the kidneys, other organs like the heart, brain and lungs can also be affected by AKI. AKI is a condition that is common among older adults, and patients in intensive care units.
What are the signs and symptoms of Acute Kidney Injury?
The signs and symptoms of AKI include swelling in the ankles, legs and around the eyes; a low amount of urine leaving one’s body, shortness of breath, fatigue, nausea, confusion, chest pain or pressure; and in severe cases, coma or seizures. There are times when AKI may display no symptoms and can only be detected by tests conducted by one’s healthcare provider.
Now let us look at the possible causes of Acute Kidney Injury. One cause could be decreased blood flow – certain diseases and conditions can lead to decreased blood flow to your kidneys causing Acute Kidney Injury. Such diseases and conditions include burns, organ failure, heart attack/failure, blood loss, fluid loss, low blood pressure etc. Yet another cause for AKI could be blockage of the urinary tract caused by bladder/prostate/cervical cancer, kidney stones, blood clots in one’s urinary tract etc.
Another cause could be direct damage to one’s kidneys through multiple myeloma (a type of cancer), sepsis (a severe type of infection), vasculitis (a condition that causes inflammation and scarring of one’s blood vessels), interstitial nephritis (an allergic reaction triggered by certain drugs), scleroderma (a group of diseases affecting the connective tissue supporting one’s internal organs) etc.
It is very important to detect Acute Kidney Injury at the earliest to prevent it from leading to chronic kidney disease or kidney failure. Tests used to detect AKI include urine output measurement, urine tests, blood tests, imaging tests, kidney biopsy etc.
If AKI is detected, what would the treatment involve?
AKI usually requires hospital stay, and in severe cases, dialysis until kidney recovery.
It is very important to keep following up with one’s healthcare provider for keeping track of their recovery and functioning of kidneys, as the incidence of AKI increases the chances of kidney disease/failure. It is for this reason that one should only go to a reputed kidney treatment centre like SG Shalby, Ahmedabad, a unit of Shalby Limited, the best kidney transplant hospitals in India.
For more information, please contact, SG Shalby, +91 9824099953
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