KIDNEY TEST, ABNORMAL

Description and Possible Medical Problems

Your two kidneys are workhouse organs that work in tandem with the urinary system to remove fluid and waste products from your tissues and blood. When they begin to malfunction in some way, it’s frequently due to an underlying illness such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart failure, primary kidney disease, or a side effect of a particular medication.

Treatment

To diagnose a kidney ailment positively, your doctor will administer a number of tests, including a urinalysis to test the composition of the urine, a blood test to determine the amount of urea and nitrogen that is excreted through the kidneys (also called a BUN test), and perhaps an X ray or an intravenous pyelogram (IVP), which provides a clear picture of the kidneys on an X ray.

Because any abnormalities in the kidneys can cause permanent damage to the organs if they’re not treated, your physician will want to begin treatment right away. And since the kidneys often begin to malfunction because of a medical problem elsewhere in the body, your doctor’s recommended course of treatment will depend on what she determines to be the primary cause.