What is end-stage renal disease

The kidney is a very important part of the human body. If you do not pay attention to maintaining your body, it is easy to lead to a decrease in the body's immunity. After the body's immunity decreases, it will cause the body to suffer from many diseases. Many people may not have heard of end-stage renal disease, and they don’t have a special understanding of this disease. Patients with end-stage renal disease must maintain a good attitude and take good care of their bodies.

What is end-stage renal disease?

The chronic kidney disease that eventually develops into any kidney disease is end-stage renal disease, also known as uremia. Its clinical manifestations include gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea and vomiting, cardiovascular system symptoms such as heart failure and shortness of breath, and neurological symptoms such as irritability and depression. Laboratory examinations may reveal elevated blood creatinine, decreased hemoglobin, decreased hemoglobin, electrolyte imbalance, calcium-phosphorus imbalance, and increased PTH. Therefore, patients with kidney disease should actively cooperate with doctors for relevant treatments to avoid developing end-stage renal disease, which requires dialysis for treatment. If patients find the above symptoms, they should consider that they may have end-stage renal disease and should actively seek medical treatment to avoid delaying the disease.

Testing for end-stage renal disease

1. Renal function test: If the patient's kidneys are inflamed, the function of the renal tubules will decline, the amount of urinary sodium and potassium excreted will increase, and metabolic acidosis will occur. When urine is low, potassium will increase. In the late stage, glomerular function will be impaired, blood urea nitrogen and creatinine will increase, eventually leading to the occurrence of uremia.

2. Urine culture test: Urine culture refers to the culture of bacteria in normal urine. Normal urine should be a sterile liquid, but there are various bacteria on the surface of the human urogenital tract. Since the pH in the female vagina is acidic, there are generally no pathogenic bacteria, but there are many conditional pathogens such as lactobacilli. As the pH changes, the normal flora will also change. Therefore, urine culture should be performed in a sterile manner (it is best to clean and disinfect the external urethra under the guidance of a doctor) to eliminate interference from external bacteria and accurately detect whether there are bacteria in the urine, whether they are pathogenic bacteria or conditional pathogens.

3. Urinalysis: The symptom of not having nephritis is that the urine protein is usually trace or small amount, and the proteinuria is greater than 3.0/24 hours. A small amount of red blood cells and white blood cells will appear in the urine sediment. If white blood cell casts are found, it is very helpful for diagnosing the disease, but it is not a characteristic of nephritis.