Kidney Function
Your kidneys are a pair of bean-shaped organs with
one located on each side of the spine, right beneath your ribcage. Kidneys are
part of the urinary tract and have several system-wide functions:
- Filtering the
blood to remove waste and excess fluid through the urine.
- Maintaining a
balance of water, nutrients like vitamin
D, and minerals such as calcium, phosphorus,
sodium, and potassium.
- Creating
hormones that control blood
pressure, develop red blood cells, and keep bones strong.
Blood continuously flows into the kidney through
the nephrons. Each kidney contains roughly one million nephrons. These tiny
units contain a glomerulus, which does the filtering, and a tubule, which
returns vital minerals and nutrients to the blood while removing excess fluid
and wastes.
Kidney disease involves a gradual loss of kidney function. As the kidneys
progressively lose their filtering ability, toxic levels of fluids, minerals, and waste build up in the body.
In the early stages, kidney
disease is ‘silent’ with few signs or symptoms,
often preventing it from being detected until it’s advanced. If caught early,
underlying causes of kidney disease – such as high blood
pressure, diabetes,
polycystic kidney disease (an inherited, chronic condition that causes
fluid-filled cysts to form in the kidney), and inflammation of the glomeruli –
can be treated.
Unfortunately, advanced kidney damage can progress
to kidney
failure, which means patients must eventually require
dialysis or have a kidney transplant.
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