What is Nephrology?

Nephrology is a subspecialty of internal medicine, which concerns the diagnosis and treatment of kidney disorders. It is related to the study of disease and function of the kidney. Several diseases like polycystic kidney disease, autoimmune diseases and systemic vasculitides, affecting the kidney may require special treatment.

Disease and conditions

Acute kidney injury
The kidney fails to function properly, which leads to headache, loss of appetite, vomiting, nausea, and fatigue.

Chronic Disease
Over the period of time, condition of kidney gets worsens and there is loss of renal function. Symptoms like reduced appetite, blood pressure and body not well occur, when a patient is suffers from chronic kidney disease.

Hematuria
White blood cells along with red blood cells are found in the urine. It signifies tumor in the urinary tract (ureter, kidneys, urinary bladder and urethra).

Proteinuria
It is a condition when excess of serum proteins is found in the urine.

Kidney Stones
A solid concretion is formed from the dietary minerals in the urine, which is deposited in the kidney.

Hypertension
The blood pressure is high in arteries during the hypertension.

Tests, Treatment, Drugs and Diagnosis
Doctors collect 24-hour sample of urine to know the accurate filtering capacity of the kidney and amount of protein reduced due to some forms of kidney disorders. Nephrologists perform the other following tests to diagnose the kidney disease:

• Renal biopsy – performed to obtain tissue diagnosis of a disorder.
• CT scan – to diagnose nephrolithiasis.
• Ultrasound – scan the urinary tract.
• Angiography – also known as magnetic resonance is performed when blood vessels are affected.
• Scintigraphy – to get accurate measurement of renal function and MAG3 scans to diagnose renal artery disease.

Nephrologists cure some of the kidney disorders with medication like steroids, antihypertensives and disease-modifying antireumatic drugs. In case the doctor diagnoses complete kidney failure, he suggests for dialysis. The other option suggested by nephrology doctors is kidney transplant.

When to call Nephrologist?
Patients are referred to Nephrology doctors for the treatment and diagnosis of chronic kidney disease, kidney stone, electrolytes (disorders of acid),   hypertension, acute renal failure, proteinuria and hematuria.