Month: August 2008

Kidney stones, also called renal calculi, are solid concretions (crystal aggregations) of dissolved minerals in urine; calculi typically form inside the kidneys or bladder. The terms nephrolithiasis and urolithiasis refer to the presence of calculi in the kidneys and urinary tract, respectively. Overview The kidneys are a pair of organs that are primarily responsible for filtering metabolites and minerals from the circulatory system. These secretions are then passed to the bladder and out of the body as urine. Some of the substances found in urine are able to crystalize, and in a concentrated form these chemicals can precipitate into a …

Chronic kidney disease (CKD), also known as chronic renal disease, is a progressive loss of renal function over a period of months or years through five stages. Each stage is a progression through an abnormally low and deteriorating glomerular filtration rate, which is usually determined indirectly by the creatinine level in blood serum.[1] Stage 1 CKD is mildly diminished renal function, with few overt symptoms. Stage 5 CKD is a severe illness and requires some form of renal replacement therapy (dialysis or renal transplant). Stage 5 CKD is also called end-stage renal disease (ESRD), chronic kidney failure (CKF) or chronic …