inability of the kidneys to excrete wastes and to help maintain the electrolyte balance
The inability of the kidneys to excrete wastes, concentrate urine and maintain electrolyte balance.
Inability of kidneys to function properly
The loss of the kidneys ability to adequately filter the blood, usually due to diabetes or other diseases. When severe, requires mechanical filtration (dialysis) or kidney transplant.
Also called kidney failure, chronic renal failure, or CRF for short. Sometimes referred to as chronic renal insufficiency, or CRI. The kidneys are the body's filter, taking waste products from the blood and adjusting levels of various essential chemical substances to as to keep them within normal limits. Kidneys are also largely responsible for ensuring that the body contains the right amount of water and that the blood is the correct acidity. Kidneys also produce a substance (erythropoietin) which stimulates the rate of blood cell formation in the bone marrow. Kidney failure can be caused by a number of things, including steroids and just plain old age. Kidney failure leads to an accumulation of toxic waste products in the blood, and eventually coma and death. See the Associated Conditions page for more information.
A sudden decline in renal function that may be triggered by a number of acute disease processes. Examples of processes that may cause renal failure are sepsis (blood infection), shock, trauma, kidney stones, kidney infection, drug toxicity, poisons or toxins or injection with an iodine-containing contrast dye (adverse effect). Chronic renal failure represents a slow reduction in kidney function over a period of time. Chronic renal failure may be caused by a number of disorders, which include long-standing hypertension, diabetes, congestive heart failure, lupus or sickle cell anemia. Both forms of renal failure result in a life-threatening metabolic disturbance.
Reduction in the ability of the kidneys to filter waste products from the blood and excrete them in the urine, to control the body's water and salt balance, and to regulate the blood pressure. Renal Failure can be acute or Chronic. In acute renal failure, kidney function usually returns to normal once the underlying cause has been discovered and treated. In chronic renal failure, function is usually irreversibly last.
Renal failure is the condition in which the kidneys fail to function properly. Physiologically, renal failure is described as a decrease in the glomerular filtration rate. Clinically, this manifests in an elevated serum creatinine.