Pathophysiology of Chronic Kidney Failure and Hemodialysis Treatment

Running head: PATHOPHYSIOLOGY
PATHOPHYSIOLOGY
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PATHOPHYSIOLOGY1
Table of Contents
Part 1................................................................................................................................................2
Part 2................................................................................................................................................6
Part 3................................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

PATHOPHYSIOLOGY2
Part 1
1.1 The human excretory system comprise of two kidneys, two ureters, one urinary bladder and
one urethra. The primary organ of the renal system are the two kidneys. The three main internal
region of kidney are renal cortex, renal medulla and renal pelvis. The cortex is the outer region
of the kidney and the medulla is the innermost region of kidney. The connection of the kidney to
the circulatory system is done by the renal pelvis. The nephron is the basic structural and
functional unit of the kidney which is responsible for filtering blood to do the regulation of the
chemical concentrations and in producing urine (Glassock & Rule, 2016).
The renal physiology refers to the study of the physiology of kidney involving all the
functions of the kidney. The main functions of kidney includes maintaining the balance of acid
an bases, regulating the balance of fluid. It is also involved in the regulation of sodium,
potassium and other electrolytes. The kidneys are also responsible for clearing toxins, absorption
of glucose, amino acids and other small molecules, regulation of blood pressure, the production
of various hormones and also in the activation of vitamin D. Much of the renal physiology are
studied at the nephron level (Klatte et al., 2015).
1.2. Chronic kidney failure or the end stage renal disease is a rapid and irreversible deterioration
of the function of kidneys. At this condition, the ability of the human body to maintain the
metabolic activity and balance of fluids and the electrolyte fails which results in development of
uremia. Uremia means increase of urea and nitrogenous wastes in the blood. This condition
happens as a result of the systematic effect of different diseases like diabetes mellitus,
hypertension, and obstruction of the urinary tract, different infections or medications. The effect
of the environment and the occupation leads to the occurrence of this disease (Ter Maaten et

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al.,2015). In the given case, though the patient was not diagnosed with hypertension but the
history is showing that the she had suffered from severe headaches, palpitations since the last
five years as she was very much worried about the drought. At the time of admission in the
hospital the blood pressure of the patient was found to have increased a lot, it was 190/110 mm
Hg. The pathophysiology behind this is that, with the declining of the functions of renal organs,
the end products of the metabolism of proteins gets accumulated in the body, which are normally
excreted out through the urine. Uremia develops and because of this most of the other systems of
the body are affected. The more the waste products are accumulated, the more severe the
symptoms become (Bernal et al, 2015). The rate of the decline of the functions of kidney and the
development of chronic urinary disorders are related to the excretion of proteins and
hypertension. The condition gets more complex if the amount of the protein increases and also if
the hypertension increases. In the blood report of the patient of the case study it is found that the
amount of creatinine is very high and also the patient was having hypertension.
\ There are different risk factors of the disease chronic kidney failure. The genetics of the
patients is one of the risk factor of this disease and it is very essential to find whether the family
members of the patient had suffered from kidney failure or not. Age is another important factor
as most of the people who are above 45 years of age have tendencies to suffer from kidney
failures. The other risk factor of kidney disease is diabetes mellitus, and especially if the onset of
diabetes happen before age 20 it may take severe form during the later stage of their life. High
blood pressure is another risk factor, especially if the pressure is uncontrollable for a long period
of time. Smoking, poor blood glucose control and obesity are the other factors of the kidney
failure. In the given case study, the age factor, hypertension and high blood pressure are the risk