How does diabetic nephropathy occur?

This is an automatically translated article.

Diabetic nephropathy is a complication that occurs in some patients with diabetes, which can progress to kidney failure if not treated promptly. The treatment of diabetic kidney disease will reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke, and reduce the harmful effects of the disease on the human body.

1. How does diabetes affect the kidneys?

The kidney is an organ with the function of removing excess water and toxins from the metabolism along with urine out of the body, acting as a filter, the kidneys regulate salt levels to help control blood pressure, release hormones... Diabetic nephropathy is kidney damage caused by diabetes.
The reason why diabetes affects the kidneys is because when suffering from diabetes, the small blood vessels in the patient's kidneys will be damaged and the kidneys will not be able to clean the blood vessels properly, so the body will suffer. retain more salt and water than necessary, leading to swollen ankles and excessive weight gain, waste will gradually accumulate in the patient's body.
In particular, diabetes can cause nerve damage in the body and make it difficult to empty the bladder, putting pressure on the bladder leading to blockage and kidney damage.

2. When can diabetes cause kidney complications?

Diabetes complications is a condition that most people with diabetes have, this complication damages the filtering function of the glomeruli and causes a loss of protein (main component is albumin) greater than normal levels. allowed from the blood into the urine. An increase in the concentration of albumin in the urine is the first warning sign of diabetic nephropathy. In people with diabetes, blood sugar levels are always high, which can make certain proteins in the glomerulus easier to bind together and trigger a process of focal scarring, also known as glomerular fibrosis. When the disease reaches a certain stage, the normal kidney tissue will be replaced by fibrous tissue that reduces or loses the filtering function of the kidneys, and diabetic nephropathy has developed end-stage renal failure.
In addition, if the following additional risk factors are present, it is very likely that the patient has complications of diabetic nephropathy, specifically:
When blood glucose is unstable, HbA1c is high People with hypertension People with high blood pressure blood cholesterol, dyslipidemia Age factors, advanced age are at risk of complications Eat a lot of protein-rich foods Family history of high blood pressure

3. Mechanism of diabetes causing kidney failure?

The mechanism by which diabetes causes kidney failure often develops in certain stages, in people with type 1 diabetes, if there is no good treatment regimen, it will gradually affect the kidneys over time. Usually, the disease progresses through 5 stages.
Stage 1: When blood sugar is high and blood flow to the kidneys increases, the kidneys will increase in size. Stage 2: The patient at this time still has no obvious clinical manifestations, just started to have histological changes in the glomeruli. Stage 3: Albuminuria, diabetic kidney disease is also more advanced at this time. If not treated promptly, about 20-40% of patients will progress to clinically obvious kidney disease. Stage 4: Manifestations of the disease are clearly shown in clinical practice. The patient will have proteinuria, albumin in 24-hour urine > 300mg. The filtering function of the kidneys has begun to decline, and at the same time, the patient's blood pressure has begun to increase. Stage 5: End-stage kidney disease, requiring dialysis or a kidney transplant to maintain life. For patients with type 1 diabetes, the amount of albumin in the urine is the first sign of kidney damage. However, in patients with type 2 diabetes, the patient may have high blood pressure and albuminuria at the time of diagnosis. In addition, about 20% of patients with type 2 diabetes progress to chronic kidney disease. There is no albumin in the urine. The kidney is an organ with a particularly important role and meaning, helping the body eliminate toxins and wastes out. If the kidneys function properly, the body will always be healthy and vice versa, it will cause toxins and waste to accumulate in the body, causing kidney failure, seriously affecting life.
Therefore, early detection of diabetes affecting the kidneys is extremely important and necessary. Today, along with the development of modern medicine, people with diabetes can completely rest assured, screening for kidney failure or diabetic kidney complications early thanks to the L-FABP urine test technique at the hospital. Vinmec Times City International General Hospital.

The L-FABP test technique can identify acute tubular microcirculation disorders and allows early diagnosis of the extent of kidney damage in patients. This technique is very simple to perform, patients only need to collect urine for testing at any time of the day and then test it, L-FABP will conduct analysis and give accurate results after 30 minutes.
Vinmec Times City applies L-FABP urine test according to Japanese technology on a modern automatic AU680 testing machine, giving quick and accurate results.

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