Renal Failure

(REE-nul FAYL-yer) A condition in which the kidneys stop working and are not able to remove waste and extra water from the blood or keep body chemicals in balance. Acute or severe renal failure happens suddenly (for example, after an injury) and may be treated and cured. Chronic renal failure develops over many years, may be caused by conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes, and cannot be cured. Chronic renal failure may lead to total and long-lasting renal failure, called end-stage renal disease (ESRD). A person in ESRD needs dialysis (the process of cleaning the blood by passing it through a membrane or filter) or a kidney transplant. Also called kidney failure.

As a result of excessive glucose in the bloodstream, the capillary walls (referred to as basement membranes) overwork in filtering the waste products and builds up scar-like material that eventually collapse the glomeruli filtering process causing kidney damage. Valuable parts of blood, such as red blood cells and protein are too large to pass through the filter and leak into the urine. The kidneys almost completely stop cleaning wastes out of the blood. Wastes build up to poisonous levels and can cause death. When creatinine and blood urea nitrogen levels in the blood are high, kidney failure will likely progress more rapidly unless treated. The two choices for renal failure are dialysis and kidney transplant.