Find Out the Common Causes Behind Acute Kidney Failure

When your kidneys suddenly stop working and lose their ability to eliminate waste materials including excess fluids and salts from the blood, this is when acute kidney failure occurs. But do you know why it happens? Let’s know the causes behind this condition.   

There could be many reasons responsible behind acute kidney failure, and some of the common ones include:

1. Slowdown of blood flow to the kidneys - Adequate blood circulation to the kidneys is of great importance as without it the kidneys may not function properly. If blood flow to the kidney is hampered, a part of or the entire kidney may die. You may suffer from acute kidney failure if blood flow to the kidneys gets impaired due to conditions like:

• Heavy blood loss

• Sepsis (body's inflammatory reaction to an infection, which can bring about organ failure, tissue damage, and death)

• Dehydration

• Burns

• Heart disease

2. Urinary obstructions - A sudden blockage that disrupts your kidney's ability to eliminate urine can also lead to acute kidney failure. When this happens, it leads to a build up of toxins in the body, causing an overload in the kidneys. Conditions that bring about this urinary obstruction include:

• Cervical cancer

• Colon cancer

• Bladder cancer

• Injury

• Use of certain drugs

• Kidney stones

• Enlarged prostate

• Prostate cancer

3. Diseases within the kidneys - Even instances of clotting within the blood vessels of the kidneys can be responsible behind acute kidney failure. This is because if the movement of blood cells within the blood vessels gets hampered, kidneys are not able to filter out toxins from the body. The conditions and diseases that may cause clotting, and subsequently damage to the kidneys include:

• Scleroderma (an autoimmune disease that affects connective tissues and skin)

• Build-up of cholesterol deposits

• Glomerulonephritis (an inflammatory condition of the kidney's ball-shaped structures called glomeruli)

• Hemolytic uremic syndrome (a condition that occurs due to untimely death of red blood cells)

• Lupus (a disorder of the body's immune system that brings about damage to the body's own organs and tissues)

However, with proper treatment your condition can always get better.