Med 2049
Acute Renal Failure
Instructor Michelle Earixson-Lamothe
08-01-2014
Humans have two bean shaped organs located just below the rib cage, one on each side of our spine known as kidneys. Every single day kidneys filter about 120 to 150 quarts of blood and produces around 1 to 2 quarts of urine. These fist sized organs are very important because they help to prevent the buildup of wastes, regulate blood pressure, help our bones to stay strong, makes red blood cells, and keeps electrolytes balanced. We need our kidneys to remove waste and toxins from our bodies. When your kidneys suddenly stop filtering out waste products from your blood this is called Acute Renal Failure. High levels of toxic and dangerous waste accumulate in your blood causing your bloods chemical makeup to go out of balance. There are three causes known as prerenal, intrarenal, and postrenal. …show more content…
Examples would be hypovolemia, shock, blood loss, or sepsis. Intrarenal is when actual damage to the nephrons take place. Examples would be infections, ischemia, blockages, or nephrotoxic agents. Postrenal is caused by conditions that cause an obstruction to urine flow or problems that stops the excretion of urine. Examples would be kidney stones, blood clots, urethral edema from invasive procedures. These three stages are the causes for acute renal