Kidney Disease

idney disease is a major health problem in this country, afflicting some eight million Americans. Kidney and urinary tract diseases together affect an estimated 20 million people, causing more than 95,000 deaths a year and contributing to an additional quarter of a million.

Kidney disorders run the gamut from minor infections to total kidney failure. Kidney disease can cause high blood pressure, anemia, and elevated cholesterol. When chronic, it can lead to depression and sexual dysfunction. Kidney stones, diagnosed in more than one million Americans annually, can be extremely painful and are a significant cause of hospital stays and lost work days. But the picture is not entirely bleak.

Thanks to major medical advances, diagnosis and treatment of kidney problems have improved significantly in the past 30 years. Even people with complete kidney failure can now lead reasonably normal lives because of modern dialysis techniques and new successes in transplantation. Today dialysis keeps alive more than 120,000 Americans who would otherwise perish because of kidney failure. Kidney transplants, first performed in the U.S. some 30 years ago, have saved the lives of thousands more.

Why Are Your Kidneys So Vital?

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Called the "master chemists" of the body, the kidneys keep a variety of elements in balance. When the kidneys become damaged, other organs suffer as well.

It's commonly known that the kidneys remove waste products and excess fluids from the body via the urine, and that they maintain a critical balance of salt, potassium and acid. But most people are unaware that kidneys perform other vital functions as well. For example, the kidneys produce a hormone--erythropoietin or EPO--that stimulates the production of red blood cells. Other kidney hormones help regulate blood pressure and calcium metabolism. The kidneys even synthesize the hormones that control tissue growth.

Anytime the kidneys' ability to remove and regulate water and chemicals is impaired by disease or blockage, fluids and waste products accumulate, ultimately resulting in extreme swelling and symptoms of uremia (an overload of toxic byproducts) or kidney failure. The kidneys' various functions can each be affected separately, so urine output may be normal despite significant kidney disease.

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