Common causes of acute kidney failure can include:
- Autoimmune kidney diseases;
- Uncontrolled systemic diseases, like that of the heart or liver;
- A urinary tract obstruction;
- Severe dehydration;
- Infectious diseases;
- Shock conditions such as: sepsis, electrical injury, burns, anaphylactic shock and cardiogenic shock;
- Various types of poisoning: snake bites, chemicals and medication overdose;
- Oncological diseases.
Fortunately, this type of kidney failure is often temporary, if treatment is started right away, and if there are no other serious health problems – the kidneys can fully recover once the factor causing their failure is removed and they go back to normal functioning.
Acute kidney failure is less common than chronic kidney failure.
Unlike acute kidney failure, chronic form usually doesn’t happen overnight. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects how well the kidneys work over time and if left untreated, it may lead to kidney failure over a number of years. With chronic kidney disease connective tissues gradually replace dead kidney cells, this way CKD patients have very few healthy and functioning kidney cells which are unable to filter the usual urine volume. Sadly, these changes are irreversible.
