Nephrosclerosis
| Hypertensive kidney disease | |
|---|---|
| Synonyms | hypertensive nephrosclerosis, hypertensive kidney disease, hypertensive nephropathy |
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| Micrograph showing renal arterial hyalinosis – pink ring right-of-centre. PAS stain. | |
| Classification and external resources | |
| Specialty | nephrology |
| ICD-10 | I12 |
| ICD-9-CM | 403 |
Hypertensive kidney disease is a medical condition referring to damage to the kidney due to chronic high blood pressure. HN can be divided into two types: benign and malignant. Benign nephrosclerosis is common in individuals over the age of 60 where malignant nephrosclerosis is uncommon and affects 1-5% of individuals with high blood pressure, that have diastolic blood pressure passing 130 mm Hg. It should be distinguished from renovascular hypertension, which is a form of secondary hypertension. In addition, HN can be referred to as hypertensive nephrosclerosis, benign nephrosclerosis, and nephroangiosclerosis.
Signs and symptoms of chronic kidney disease, including loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, itching, sleepiness or confusion, weight loss, and an unpleasant taste in the mouth, may develop.
"Hypertensive" refers to high blood pressure and "nephropathy" means damage to the kidney; hence this condition is where chronic high blood pressure causes damages to kidney tissue; this includes the small blood vessels, glomeruli, kidney tubules and interstitial tissues. The tissue hardens and thickens which is known as nephrosclerosis. The narrowing of the blood vessels means less blood is going to the tissue and so less oxygen is reaching the tissue resulting in tissue death (ischemia).
Risk factors for HN include poorly controlled moderate to high blood pressure, older age, other kidney disorders. and Afro-Caribbean background – unclear whether this is due to them being more genetically susceptible to kidney damage by hypertension or whether it is because of poor management of high blood pressure amongst them.
In the kidneys, as a result of benign arterial hypertension, hyaline (pink, amorphous, homogeneous material) accumulates in the walls of small arteries and arterioles, producing the thickening of their walls and the narrowing of the arterial openings, a process known as arteriolosclerosis. The resulting inadequate blood flow produces tubular atrophy, interstitial fibrosis, and glomerular alterations (smaller glomeruli with different degrees of hyalinization – from mild to sclerosis of glomeruli) and scarring around the glomeruli (periglomerular fibrosis). In advanced stages, kidney failure will occur. Functional nephrons have dilated tubules, often with hyaline casts in the opening of the tubules. Additional complications often associated with hypertensive nephropathy include glomerular damage resulting in protein and blood in the urine.
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Wikipedia