The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs that extract waste from blood, balance body fluids, from urine, and aid in other important functions of the body. In this blog, we are going to discuss the stages of chronic kidney disease and its causes.
Some of the core actions of the Kidneys include:
Waste excretion: The digestion process and cell metabolism generate waste products in the body. The kidneys filter out toxins, excess salts, and urea, a nitrogen-based waste created by cell metabolism.
Water Level Regulation: Kidneys respond to the varying water levels in the body. In a dehydrated state, the kidney reabsorbs more water while forming urine. On the other hand, in excess water intake, the kidneys filter more water into the urine. This response maintains an optimal level of water and blood volume in the body for adequate functioning.
Blood pressure regulation: The kidneys regulate blood pressure in several ways. They balance the blood volume and electrolyte concentration. Additionally, they also synthesize renin hormone that modifies blood vessel diameter to normalize blood pressure.
Red blood cell Synthesis: Kidneys sense the lack of oxygen and produce erythropoietin hormone. It stimulates the bone marrow to produce more oxygen-carrying red blood cells.
Acid-Base Balance: Several factors can increase the acidity in the blood. Kidney cells absorb the acidic components and release the basic ions to neutralize the increased acidity. It maintains the neutral pH of the blood plasma.
All the vital functions that the kidneys perform and the toxins they encounter, increased their susceptibility to disease. The resulting disruption in kidney functions can eventually lead to kidney failure. It can lead to a build-up of harmful wastes and fluids in the body, increased blood pressure, and lack of sufficient red blood cells.
Types of Chronic Kidney Disease:
Chronic kidney failure: A gradual loss of kidney function that results from a long-term disease. This is the more common type of kidney failure and, although it cannot be reversed conventionally, it can be treated either with surgeries, transplants or with alternative treatment options, such as stem cells therapy.
Acute kidney failure: It may be referred to as a sudden loss of kidney functions resulting from an injury or poison. Acute kidney failure can usually be reversed within a few weeks if treated quickly.
End-stage renal disease (ESRD): -This is noted as a condition, wherein the kidneys do not work at all or may work at a lesser extent.
CKD stages
Kidney failure generally begins with an injury. The repair mechanisms proceed to restore the damage in the kidneys. However, these mechanisms become irregular, leading to further damage. The extracellular proteins accumulate in the kidney, disrupting their structure and function. As the damage grows over time, the function declines. This progression of kidney failure is categorized into five stages depending on the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and three phases based on urine albumin content. Both represent the renal filtration capacity. The reduction in GFR and increase in albumin in urine indicates diminishing renal functions. Classification of kidney failure stages based on GFR is as follows:
| Stage | Description | Treatment |
| 1 | GFR: 90 mL/min/1.73m2 | Blood pressure medications |
| 2 | GFR: 60-89 mL/min/1.73m2 | Medications for blood pressure and other underlying disorders such as diabetes and cholesterol |
| 3a | GFR: 40-59 mL/min/1.73m2 | Medications for blood pressure and other underlying disorders such as diabetes and cholesterol |
| 3b | GFR: 30-44 mL/min/1.73m2 | Medications for blood pressure and other underlying disorders such as diabetes and cholesterol |
| 4 | GFR: 15-29 mL/min/1.73m2 | Transplant, surgery, dialysis |
| 5 | GFR: less than 15 mL/min/1.73m2 | Transplant, surgery, dialysis |
Based on the urine albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR), the following kidney disease stages have been defined:
Stage 1: ACR – less than 30 mg/g
Stage 2: ACR – 30-299 mg/g
Stage 3: ACR – more than 299 mg/g
As a result of chronic kidney diseases, several other disorders arise. Patients with CKD suffer from abnormal fluid balance, imbalanced electrolyte concentration, high blood pressure, anemia, increased blood acidity, augmented potassium levels, and cardiovascular disorders.
Depending on the underlying causes, some types of kidney disease can be treated. Often, though, chronic kidney disease has no cure, but the treatment that is being offered conventionally will help control signs and symptoms, reduce complications, and slow progression of the disease. If your kidneys become severely damaged, you may need treatment for end-stage kidney diseases.
The conventional treatment for chronic kidney disease involves some oral steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. In critical conditions, patients can be advised to be on dialysis frequently. However, these can be taken as only supplementary treatments. It should as well be noted that long-term use of medications may result in unwanted complications. In order to regain normal kidney function, a kidney transplant is the only available option. However, it is challenging to find a matched donor, not to mention the transplant-associated issues such as opportunistic infections during or after transplant due to compromised immunity. Oftentimes, the lack of donors on time leads to the death of CKD patients.
Regenerative Approach
The medical fraternity had been always in search of some alternative treatment options to avoid medications with adverse complications and kidney transplantation. Stem cell treatment can be the best choice for all the nephrological issues. Stem cells are the naïve cells of the body, which can be differentiated into many cells upon proper activation. This remarkable property of stem cells can be exploited to treat a variety of medical problems. This treatment can restore the damage, thus making up for the lacunae, which is a result of conventional treatment options. From the growing body of evidence available from various clinical trials, it has been observed that stem cells, once injected into the body, can release some proteins, growth factors and cytokines to promote the growth of kidney cells and proximal tubular epithelial cells.
Conclusion
Chronic kidney disease has lacked an absolute cure. The medications aim to delay the disease progression without any reversal of damaged kidney cells. Transplantation remains the only option in many cases. Stem cells with their regenerative potential can slow the diseases and potentially reverse the damage, resulting in functional improvement.
Although a lot of research is still under way, stem cells can definitely stop the progression of the disease and thus is a viable alternative with minimum complications and cost. Advancells provides high-quality stem cells to further the stem cell therapy for Chronic Kidney Disorder in India. These cells are screened thoroughly to ensure their efficacy.
FAQs
Q: What are the functions of kidneys?
Kidneys regulate blood pressure, water level, electrolyte concentration, acid-base balance, and red blood cell production in addition to many other functions.
Q: What is the difference between chronic and acute kidney diseases?
Chronic kidney disease develops slowly over a period of time, whereas acute diseases develop rapidly, requiring immediate treatment.
Q: How many stages of kidney failure exist?
According to glomerular filtration rate, there are five stages of kidney failure whereas albumin-creatinine ratio in urine divide the organ failure into three stages.
Q: What are the treatment options for CKD?
The treatments focus on mitigating the symptoms and therefore medications to control blood pressure and anti-inflammatory are prescribed. Additionally, lifestyle changes to regulate obesity and diabetes are recommended. As the advanced stages, dialysis and transplant remain the only treatment. However, stem cells are emerging as a more feasible option for CKD treatment.
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