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Kidney Disease Caused By High Blood Pressure
By M. A. Fulmar
Every ounce of blood that flows through the body passes through the kidneys several times throughout the day to be filtered of certain substances and impurities that can be flushed out in the urine. The blood flows into the kidneys through the renal arteries into structures known as glomeruli. The glomeruli are a complex web of capillaries where the majority of things that are filtered from the blood are removed. From the glomeruli, these waste products are passed along through a network of pipes known as tubules.
The tubules provide a location where the body can reabsorb substances (such as vitamins) that were originally headed towards elimination as urine. The remaining waste products then pass into a collecting system, then on to the bladder, eventually to be flushed away as urine.
Over time, high blood pressure can damage the kidneys. It causes the renal arteries to constrict and become tighter and more narrow, which reduces the blood flow to the kidneys. The kidneys need large quantities of blood in order to work well. In order to increase the amount of blood flow, the tubules reabsorb more salt and water, which results in increased blood pressure. Even though the kidneys' actions are meant to help the blood flow, the increased blood pressure only serves to worsen the problem.
As the already high blood pressure gets even higher, the blood vessels and tubules within the kidneys are damaged by the high pressure within the vessels. The high blood pressure can cause a hardening of the glomeruli found throughout the kidneys. This further decreases the amount of blood that can get into the kidneys, which damages the kidneys even more. As more and more vessels within the kidneys are damaged, they become less efficient at filtering out waste products.
Once the kidneys begin to function below normal, waste products are not properly excreted. With salt and other normally excreted products remaining in the kidneys, they continue to malfunction. When the kidneys become damaged, they cannot be repaired.
Once the kidneys can no longer filter the blood, the waste products build up to a toxic level, a condition called uremia. At this point, kidney dialysis or a kidney transplant is necessary to prevent the waste products in the blood from accumulating to dangerous, life-threatening levels. In some cases, death occurs before dialysis or transplantation can occur.
The bottom line is this: Uncontrolled high blood pressure can eventually result in severe and irreversible kidney damage.
Author Details:
M. A. Fulmar writes about medical matters for a number of sites including Simply Top Articles and Information Junkie.
Source: The A to Z of Blood Pressure
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