Kidney injury can be fatal if not treated at once: Docs

Last year, Shivaji Nagar resident Brijesh Maurya, 26, used ayurvedic medicines for an abdominal injury, which ultimately caused a full-blow infection in his body resulting in acute kidney injury.

Last year, Shivaji Nagar resident Brijesh Maurya, 26, used ayurvedic medicines for an abdominal injury, which ultimately caused a full-blow infection in his body resulting in acute kidney injury.

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He was asked to undergo undergo dialysis three times a week as the damage to his kidneys was permanent.

Acute kidney injury or acute kidney failure is the rapid loss (within few hours or days) of the kidneys' ability to remove waste and help balance fluids and electrolytes in the body and is rarely recognised as a medical emergency by doctors and the general public.

“Earlier it was believed that acute kidney injury is not a major issue as compared to chronic kidney failure. However, recent studies show that nearly 50% of the patients with acute kidney injury in ICU can succumb to it and about 5% can become chronic kidney failure patients,” said Dr Umesh Khanna, consultant nephrologist and chairman of Mumbai Kidney Foundation.

Acute kidney injury is also called kidney attack. World Kidney Day has selected “Stop Kidney Attack” as its theme this year.

Chronic kidney failure, on the other hand, is a slow loss of kidney functions where the final stage is complete renal failure wherein the patient either needs to undergo dialysis regularly or go for kidney transplant.

Doctors said that patients suffering from blood pressure, diabetes and kidney stones should be very careful.