If you are a Chronic Kidney Failure patient, you will find your test values are abnormal. The most common test value include high serum creatinine, high blood urea nitrogen (BUN), excess protein in urine and high blood pressure. As a Chronic Kidney Failure patient, it is necessary to learn how Chronic Kidney Failure cause these abnormal values.
High serum creatinine and high BUN
Both creatinine and urea nitrogen are the wastes produced by our body and they are normally discharged by kidneys. Usually, they are kept in a stable range (serum creatinine 0.5-1.3mg/dL, BUN 3.2-7.1mmol/L). When kidney function is impaired and kidneys fail to discharge excess creatinine and urea nitrogen, serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen level increase. This is the reason why Chronic Kidney Failure have high serum creatinine and high BUN.
Although serum creatinine level and BUN level help to measure kidney function, they are not so sensitive, as clinical experiments show they do not increase until a half of kidney function is affected. Therefore, for Chronic Kidney Failure patients with high serum creatinine and BUN, their kidney function usually have been impaired seriously.
Excess protein in urine
Kidney works as a filter and helps us purify our blood. During this process, wastes like creatinine and urea nitrogen can be discharged excessively and timely, and nutrition like protein will be kept in our body. Kidney performs filtration function through glomerular filtration membrane. For a healthy person, his kidneys work well and protein in his urine is usually less than 150mg everyday. However, for Chronic Kidney Failure patients, their glomerular filtration membrane is damaged seriously and large amounts of protein leak into urine, causing proteinuria.
High blood pressure
Kidney is a bean-shaped organ with multiple functions and one of the major function is to adjust blood pressure. In Chronic Kidney Failure, kidney damages elevates renin, leading to the increase of angiotensin II which has function to shrink blood vessels. When there are high levels of angiotensin II, blood vessels become thinner and blood pressure increases.
Besides, retention of water and sodium also contributes to high blood pressure in Chronic Kidney Failure. Excessive sodium can be discharged by kidneys in normal case and for people with Chronic Kidney Failure, affected kidneys fail to function properly, leading to high sodium level in blood which can cause retention of water and sodium and elevates blood pressure.
With Chronic Kidney Failure in different stages, patients will have different abnormal test values. And if you want to learn more, you can consult our consultant online or leave message to us directly.
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