Causes and Symptoms of Atheroembolic Renal Disease

30 June, 2009 No Comment

Cholesterol: if you eat too much fat, you probably have a high cholesterol level. That’s why you must attend to your dietary fat intake. Fats are still needed by the body. Remember that too much is bad. So too much fats produce more cholesterol than what the body needs and put your system in danger.

What is atheroembolic renal disease?
One very frightening disease caused by excessive cholesterol intake is atheroembolic renal disease. The disease is often associated with atherosclerosis of the renal organs. Emboli are hard fatty materials which harden and adhere to blood vessel walls and flow with the bloodstream.

Emboli don’t do harm when flowing through the blood stream, but once it bulks it blocks blood flow, causing an imbalance in the majority of the system. Once emboli block the renal arteries, the kidneys lack their blood supply.

At this point, the disease is called atheroembolic renal disease. It may originate from an obstruction of the aorta or from a surgery complication, particularly those involving the aorta. The symptoms of this disease are similar to those of atherosclerosis.

Symptoms
One very obvious symptom is the failure of the kidney. Kidney failure leads to less production of urine, or worse, producing no urine at all. It may sound simple but take note that once the kidneys fail, many processes inside the body are disturbed and may malfunction. The malfunction of different organs can lead to nausea, skin discoloration and weight loss.

What to do once symptoms are observed
When there is unbearable pain during urination and there is blood in the urine, you should consult a doctor right away. You would undergo a diagnostic evaluation, including a physical exam and blood analysis. You might have to undergo electrocardiograph to determine whether areas of the heart are damaged or have an inadequate blood supply.

Imaging tests are also highly recommended to confirm that emboli are blocking the kidneys. You also should not be surprised if the doctor requests a kidney biopsy.

You must not be single-minded over the diagnosis of atheroembolic renal disease; it’s highly possible that you may have atheroembolic renal disease, but you could also have atherosclerosis. Quite simply, there may be other emboli blocking other arteries in your system. The more emboli detected, the worse your situation may become and the sicker you may be.