Home | | Medical Physiology | Prerenal Acute Renal Failure Caused by Decreased Blood Flow to the Kidney

Chapter: Medical Physiology: Kidney Diseases and Diuretics

Prerenal Acute Renal Failure Caused by Decreased Blood Flow to the Kidney

The kidneys normally receive an abundant blood supply of about 1100 ml/min, or about 20 to 25 per cent of the cardiac output.

Prerenal Acute Renal Failure Caused by Decreased Blood Flow to the Kidney

The kidneys normally receive an abundant blood supply of about 1100 ml/min, or about 20 to 25 per cent of the cardiac output. The main purpose of this high blood flow to the kidneys is to provide enough plasma for the high rates of glomerular filtration needed for effective regu-lation of body fluid volumes and solute concentrations. Therefore, decreased renal blood flow is usually accom-panied by decreased GFR and decreased urine output of water and solutes. Consequently, conditions that acutely diminish blood flow to the kidneys usually cause oliguria, which refers to diminished urine output belowthe level of intake of water and solutes.This causes accu-mulation of water and solutes in the body fluids. If renal blood flow is markedly reduced, total cessation of urine output can occur, a condition referred to as anuria.

As long as renal blood flow does not fall below about 20 to 25 per cent of normal, acute renal failure can usually be reversed if the cause of the ischemia is cor-rected before damage to the renal cells has occurred. Unlike some tissues, the kidney can endure a relatively large reduction in blood flow before actual damage to the renal cells occurs. The reason for this is that as renal blood flow is reduced, the GFR and the amount of sodium chloride filtered by the glomeruli (as well as the filtration rate of water and other electrolytes) are reduced. This decreases the amount of sodium chloride that must be reabsorbed by the tubules, which uses most of the energy and oxygen consumed by the normal kidney. Therefore, as renal blood flow and GFR fall, the requirement for renal oxygen consumption is also reduced. As the GFR approaches zero, oxygen con-sumption of the kidney approaches the rate that is required to keep the renal tubular cells alive even when they are not reabsorbing sodium. When blood flow is reduced below this basal requirement, which is usually less than 20 to 25 per cent of the normal renal blood flow, the renal cells start to become hypoxic, and further decreases in renal blood flow, if prolonged, will cause damage or even death of the renal cells, especially the tubular epithelial cells. If the cause of prerenal acute renal failure is not corrected and ischemia of the kidney persists longer than a few hours, this type of renal failure can evolve into intrarenal acute renal failure, as dis-cussed later. Acute reduction of renal blood flow is a common cause of acute renal failure in hospitalized patients. Table 31–2 shows some of the common causes of decreased renal blood flow and prerenal acute renal failure.



Study Material, Lecturing Notes, Assignment, Reference, Wiki description explanation, brief detail
Medical Physiology: Kidney Diseases and Diuretics : Prerenal Acute Renal Failure Caused by Decreased Blood Flow to the Kidney |


Privacy Policy, Terms and Conditions, DMCA Policy and Compliant

Copyright © 2018-2024 BrainKart.com; All Rights Reserved. Developed by Therithal info, Chennai.