The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Health awareness must to check kidney ailments

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Monday, Jul 07, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Health awareness must to check kidney ailments

Y. Mallikarjun

HYDERABAD: Lack of health education among scores of patients suffering from preventable kidney ailments in the State led to irreversible damage to the organ and its subsequent removal, a six-year study by urologists at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) revealed. Of the 310 nephrectomies (removal of kidneys) carried out at the leading medical institution between 2001 and 2007, it was found that in 70 per cent of the cases, the kidneys had to be removed in a benign condition.

The same could have been avoided had the patients turned up for early diagnosis and treatment, according to P.V.L.N. Murthy, professor and head, Department of Urology and Renal Transplantation, NIMS.

While kidneys had to be removed due to cancerous condition in 30 per cent of the patients, nephrectomy was conducted in 40 per cent cases due to Pelvic Ureteric junction (PUJ) obstruction and as a result of stone formation in the remaining 30 per cent of cases.

Common causes

Talking to The Hindu here on Thursday, Prof. Murthy, who is president of AP Society of Genito-Urinary Surgeons said, still in India benign conditions like calculus disease and Pelvic Ureteric junction obstruction were common causes for kidney removal.

This was unlike the case in the West where malignancy was the chief cause for nephrectomy.

He said that creating awareness of the complications and stringent follow up were necessary to reduce the rate of nephrectomies.

In most of the cases, Pelvic Ureteric junction obstruction was congenital and the patient had no knowledge of it.

Symptoms

Existence of blood in the urine was the most ominous sign, he said.

Further, he commented that patients should see a urologist when symptoms like a burning sensation, passing stones in one’s urine, loin pain and high fever with chills were noticed.

He added that a paper on the study would be presented at the three-day annual conference of South Zone Urological Society which would be held at Tirupati and was to begin on July 11.

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