WordNet
n. inability of the kidneys to excrete wastes and to help maintain the electrolyte balance [syn: renal failure]
Wikipedia
Kidney failure, also known as renal failure or renal insufficiency, is a medical condition of impaired kidney function in which the kidneys fail to adequately filter metabolic wastes from the blood. The two main forms are acute kidney injury, which is often reversible with adequate treatment, and chronic kidney disease, which is often not reversible. In both cases, there is usually an underlying cause.
Kidney failure is mainly determined by a decrease in glomerular filtration rate, which is the rate at which blood is filtered in the glomeruli of the kidney. The condition is detected by a decrease in or absence of urine production or determination of waste products ( creatinine or urea) in the blood. Depending on the cause, hematuria (blood loss in the urine) and proteinuria (protein loss in the urine) may be noted.
In kidney failure, there may be problems with increased fluid in the body (leading to swelling), increased acid levels, raised levels of potassium, decreased levels of calcium, increased levels of phosphate, and in later stages anemia. Bone health may also be affected. Long-term kidney problems are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Usage examples of "kidney failure".
Heart attack and kidney failure and beheading, drug overdoses and nicked aortas and being crushed by a falling smokestack.
It's become common enough to be the current major cause of acute kidney failure in children.
And who was to say the child had an infection anyway, and not something far more difficult to cure, like a heart murmur or kidney failure?
A Lesch-Nyhan boy may survive to young adulthood, but at some point he will die of kidney failure or self-injury.
The malady had worsened during the girl's early teens to the point of kidney failure.
The malady had worsened during the girls early teens to the point of kidney failure.
Four more animals were sacrificedall dying within a few days, all by causes attributed to age: kidney failure, heart failure, brain strokes, liver dysfunction.
He's on the brink of kidney failure, and his blood pressure is way down.
Sarah explains that she's been taking three Bex powders a day for thirty years and the phenacetin has had an insidious effect which has been chronic for some time but has now reached end-stage kidney failure.
Figure Red Mike will croak from, kidney failure or heart disease in the next two years at the outside.
NEW CUTS IN revised priorities NEW CUTS IN community care NEW CUTS IN susceptible to a wide range of NEW CUTS IN NEW CUTS IN CUTS IN SURGICAL Research Grant will no longer be referred to as a 'lump sum' and this latest mark of kidney machine - the twelve-inch dance re-mix laser guided precision munition version - can scatter hundreds of these tiny kidney-stone size machinettes over an area the size of a squash courts cricket pitch golf course, breaking up breaking up an enemy kidney failure while it's still in Warsaw Pict territory (oops, sic) go for it honey.
Research Grant will no longer be referred to as a 'lump sum' and this latest mark of kidney machine - the twelve-inch dance re-mix laser guided precision munition version - can scatter hundreds of these tiny kidney-stone size machinettes over an area the size of a squash courts cricket pitch golf course, breaking up breaking up an enemy kidney failure while it's still in Warsaw Pict territory (oops, sic) go for it honey.
If he did die from the cancer, the end would take the form either of pneumonia or of kidney failure.
At last, in 1916, already a ruin of a man at the age of 40, he died of kidney failure.
I stayed busy just keeping up with a growing child, keeping our tiny apartment in shape and doing whatever I could to help Muddie who was showing more and more signs of the ailment that would bring her down soon, some apparent kind of slow kidney failure.