Skip to main content

Lupus nephritis

Lupus nephritis



Overview

Lupus nephritis is a problem that occurs often in people who have systemic lupus erythematosus, also called lupus.

Lupus is a disease in which the body's immune system attacks its own cells and organs, called autoimmune disease. Lupus causes the immune system to make proteins called autoantibodies. These proteins attack tissues and organs in the body, including the kidneys.

Lupus nephritis occurs when lupus autoantibodies affect parts of the kidneys that filter out waste. This causes swelling and irritation of the kidneys, called inflammation. It might lead to blood in the urine, protein in the urine, high blood pressure, kidneys that don't work well or even kidney failure.

Symptoms

Signs and symptoms of lupus nephritis include:

Blood in the urine.

Urine that foams because of too much protein.

High blood pressure.

Swelling in the legs, ankles or feet and sometimes in the hands and face.

High levels of a waste product called creatinine in the blood.

Causes

As many as half of adults with systemic lupus get lupus nephritis. Systemic lupus causes the body's immune system to damage the kidneys. Then the kidneys can't filter out waste as they should

Risk factors

The only known risk factors for lupus nephritis are:

Being male. Women are more likely to get lupus, but men get lupus nephritis more than women do.

Race or ethnicity. Black people, Hispanic people and Asian Americans are more likely to have lupus nephritis than are whites.

Complications

Lupus nephritis can cause:

Hypertension.

Kidney failure.

A higher risk of getting cancer, especially one that starts in the cells of the immune system, called B-cell lymphoma.

A higher risk of heart and blood vessel problems.

Diagnosis

Tests to diagnose lupus nephritis include:

Blood and urine tests. Besides the usual blood and urine tests, urine collected over 24 hours might be tested. These tests measure how well the kidneys are working.

Kidney biopsy. A small section of kidney tissue is removed and sent to a lab. This test diagnoses lupus nephritis. It also can help show how bad the disease is. There can be more than one biopsy over time.

Treatment

There's no cure for lupus nephritis. Treatment aims to:

Reduce symptoms or make symptoms go away, called remission.

Keep the disease from getting worse.

Keep symptoms from coming back.

Keep kidneys working well enough to not need a machine to filter waste from blood, called dialysis, or a kidney transplant.

Supportive treatments

In general, these treatments might help people with kidney disease:

Diet changes. Limiting the amount of protein and salt in the diet can help the kidneys work better.

Blood pressure medicines. Medicines called angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) can help control blood pressure. These medicines also keep protein from leaking from the kidneys into the urine. Medicines called diuretics help get rid of fluid.

Medicines

Treating severe lupus nephritis might need medicines that slow or stop the immune system from attacking healthy cells. Medicines often are used together. Sometimes certain medicines used at first are switched to prevent toxic effects.

Medicines to treat lupus nephritis might include:

Steroids, such as prednisone (Rayos).

Cyclosporine (Gengraf, Neoral, Sandimmune).

Voclosporin (Lupkynis).

Tacrolimus (Astagraf, Envarsus, Prograf).

Cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan).

Azathioprine (Azasan, Imuran).

Mycophenolate (CellCept).

Rituximab (Rituxan).

Belimumab (Benlysta).

Ongoing clinical trials are testing new treatments for lupus nephritis.

Treatment options for kidney failure

For people who progress to kidney failure, treatment options include:

Dialysis. Dialysis helps remove fluid and waste from the body, maintain the right balance of minerals in the blood, and manage blood pressure by filtering the blood through a machine.

Kidney transplant. If kidneys stop working, a kidney from a donor, called a transplant, might be needed.

Type of Doctor Department :  A nephrologist  and a rheumatologist

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Charge Syndrome

Overview CHARGE syndrome is a recognizable genetic syndrome with known pattern of features. It is an extremely complex syndrome, involving extensive medical and physical difficulties that differ from child to child. CHARGE syndrome is correlated with genetic mutation to CHD7 and the prevalence of CHARGE syndrome is 1:10,000-1:15,000 live births. Babies with CHARGE syndrome are often born with life-threatening birth defects. They spend many months in the hospital and undergo many surgeries and other treatments. Swallowing and breathing problems make life difficult even when they come home. Most have hearing two little girls sitting on a carpet, one girl has a trach and is biting her finger.loss, vision loss, and balance problems that delay their development and communication. Despite these seemingly insurmountable obstacles, children with CHARGE syndrome often far surpass their medical, physical, educational, and social expectations. One of the hidden features of CHARGE syndrome is the ...
7 comments
Read more

Dehydration Due to Diarrheal Diseases

Overview Dehydration occurs when you use or lose more fluid than you take in, and your body doesn't have enough water and other fluids to carry out its normal functions. If you don't replace lost fluids, you will get dehydrated. Anyone may become dehydrated, but the condition is especially dangerous for young children and older adults. The most common cause of dehydration in young children is severe diarrhea and vomiting. Older adults naturally have a lower volume of water in their bodies, and may have conditions or take medications that increase the risk of dehydration. This means that even minor illnesses, such as infections affecting the lungs or bladder, can result in dehydration in older adults. Dehydration also can occur in any age group if you don't drink enough water during hot weather — especially if you are exercising vigorously. You can usually reverse mild to moderate dehydration by drinking more fluids, but severe dehydration needs immediate medical treatment. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) Disease

  Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) Disease Disease Overview Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease is a rare disorder of unknown origin that affects many body systems, including as the eyes, ears, skin, and the covering of the brain and spinal cord (the meninges). The most noticeable symptom is a rapid loss of vision. There may also be neurological signs such as severe headache, vertigo, nausea, and drowsiness. Loss of hearing, and loss of hair (alopecia) and skin color may occur along, with whitening (loss of pigmentation) of the hair and eyelashes (poliosis). Signs & Symptoms Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease is initially characterized by headaches, very deep pain in the eyes, dizziness (vertigo), and nausea. These symptoms are usually followed in a few weeks by eye inflammation (uveitis) and blurring of vision. This may occur in both eyes at the same time or in one eye first and, a few days later, in the other. The retina may detach and hearing loss may become apparent. The chronic stage follows...
Post a Comment
Read more