Beware of acute pulmonary edema in patients with renal failure

This is an automatically translated article.

The article is professionally consulted by Master, Doctor Nguyen Huy Nhat - Respiratory Doctor - Department of Medical Examination & Internal Medicine - Vinmec Danang International General Hospital
Acute pulmonary edema is one of the complications of chronic kidney failure, which is life-threatening.

1. Overview of kidney failure

1.1 What is kidney failure? Renal failure is a disease where the glomerular filtration rate falls below normal. Renal failure is termed chronic or chronic renal failure when the glomerular filtration rate is persistently reduced, which is associated with a decrease in the number of functional nephrons.
Chronic renal failure is a clinical and biochemical syndrome that progresses chronically over many years, the consequence of fibrosis of functional nephrons causing a gradual decrease in glomerular filtration rate leading to a state of hypernitremia. such as urea, blood creatinine, uric acid,... Chronic kidney disease usually progresses slowly and does not show any symptoms until it is in a dangerous state causing harm to the patient.
1.2 Common complications in chronic kidney failure Endocrine disorders. Metabolic disorders: Insulin resistance, nutritional disorders, dyslipidemia. Hematological changes: Anemia, immunodeficiency, coagulopathy. Gastrointestinal: Nausea, anorexia, ulceration of the oral mucosa and, more seriously, gastrointestinal bleeding. Cardiovascular: Up to 50-80% of patients with chronic renal failure experience cardiovascular complications. With typical complications include: myocardium due to high blood urea, hypertension, atherosclerosis, pericarditis, arrhythmia, heart valve disease. Disturbances in water and electrolyte balance, acid-base disturbances. Pulmonary complications such as: Pulmonary edema, pneumonia, bronchitis and pleural effusion. Neuromuscular: Muscle weakness, cramps and peripheral neuritis, even worse, coma. Bone: Bone damage in chronic kidney disease is collectively known as renal dystrophy.

2. Acute pulmonary edema in patients with renal failure

Acute pulmonary edema is one of the complications of chronic renal failure. Patients with chronic renal failure have complications of systemic edema, polymembrane effusion, leading to pleural effusion and acute pulmonary edema.
Therefore, in order to be vigilant and prevent dangerous complications such as acute pulmonary edema, people with kidney failure need to have a suitable lifestyle including:
Lifestyle changes: If kidney failure due to hypertension, people Patients need to keep blood pressure stable. If you have diabetes, you need to control your blood sugar levels. Good control of blood glucose can help prevent or slow diabetes complications, including kidney failure. Keep blood cholesterol within the target range. Lifestyle, exercise should be reasonable, maintain a healthy weight.
Changes in diet: Diet can help slow kidney progression. Patients need to limit salt, the amount of salt eaten per day is less than 2 grams. Do not eat salted foods, processed foods such as salted eggplant, pickles, shrimp noodles,... Limit fried foods and do not add seasonings such as main noodles, seasoning powder when cooking. Increase vitamins by eating more vegetables.

For acute kidney failure, sometimes patients need to be on dialysis for a few weeks to wait for kidney function to recover. This hemodialysis is only temporary to remove stagnant substances and excess water from the body.
To be able to detect chronic kidney disease early, you should go for annual health check-ups. Basic blood and urine tests can detect kidney abnormalities. If the disease is detected early, the doctor will recommend appropriate treatments to slow down the process of kidney failure, as well as cardiovascular complications, electrolyte disturbances, infections.
In summary, kidney failure can cause dangerous complications such as acute pulmonary edema. Therefore, patients need to pay attention to a reasonable lifestyle and regularly visit the hospital for regular check-ups to detect and treat possible causes of kidney failure.
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