Renal and urology Flashcards
(266 cards)
What parameter is measured when determining if a patient has an AKI ?
Serum creatinine.
What are the NICE guidelines for the diagnosis of an AKI ?
- Rise in creatinine more than 25 micomol/L in 48 hours.
- Rise in creatinine more than 50 percent from baseline in 7 days
- Urine output < 0.5ml/kg/hr for more than 6 hours.
What are the risk factors for the development of an AKI ?
Consider in any patient that is suffering from an acute illness like infection or having a surgical operation.
- CKD
- HF
- Diabetes
- Liver disease
- Older age
- Cognitive impairment
- Nephrotoxic medications
- Use of a contrast medium like during CT scans
What are some examples of pre renal causes of AKI ?
-Usually due to inadequate blood supply to the kidneys.
- Hypo-tension, heart failure and dehydration.
What are some examples of renal causes of AKI ?
Intrinsic disease causes reduced filtration of the blood
- Glomerulonephritis, interstitial nephritis and tubular necrosis.
What are some examples of post renal causes of AKI ?
Usually caused by obstruction to the outflow of urine from the kidneys (obstructive neuropathy)
- Kidney stones, Tumour in abdomen/pelvis, enlarged prostate or prostate cancer
What will be present on U+E, lFT, urinalysis (cause) in AKI ?
Deranged Us and Es
Raised urea
Urinalysis will show different things depending on the cause of the AKI
- Infection - Leukocytes and nitrites
- Protein and blood - Acute nephritis/infection
Glucose - Diabetes, nephritis. - FBC - hyperkalaemia
How should patients with an AKI be managed (stepwise) ?
- The underlying cause should be treated (e.g kidney stones, obstruction, fluid resus)
- Stop renotoxic drugs
- Iv fluids
- Treat any complications
- Prevention - avoid renotoxic drugs in acutley unwell patients,
What drugs are renotoxic and can increase risk of AKI ?
NSAIDS/spirinolactone/Diuretics/gentamycin/ACE
What electrolyte abnormality can occur in an AKI and what can it cause ?
Hyperkalaemia, can cause arrhythmias and tall tented T waves on ECG.
How is hyperkalaemia with heart involvement treated ?
IV calcium gluconate.
Apart from hyperkalaemia, what are some of the other possible complications of AKI ?
- Hyperkalaemia - Tall tented T waves and treated with calcium gluconate.
- Fluid overload, HF and pul odema
- Metabolic acidosis
- Uraemia can lead to encephalopathy or pericarditis.
What are some of the indications for dialysis in an AKI ?
- Persistently high potassium that is refractory to medical treatment
- Severe acidosis (pH<7.2)
- Refractory pulmonary oedema
- Symptomatic uraemia (pericarditis, encephalopathy)
- Drug overdose (e.g. aspirin)
What is BPH ?
Caused by hyperplasia of the stromal and epithelial cells and presents with lower urinary tract symptoms.
What are the typical symptoms of BPH ?
- Hesitancy
- Weak flow
- Urgency
- Increased frequency
- Intermittency (stops/starts ect)
- Straining to pass urine
- Terminal dribbling
- Incomplete emptying
- Nocturia.
How would you assess a patient with suspected BPH ?
- PR
- Abdominal examination
- Urinary frequency volume chart (fluid intake and output)
- Urine dipstick (infection/haematuria)
- PSA for prostate cancer, depending on patient preference
How would a prostate feel in BPH ?
Normal character and feeling, enlarged.
What is PSA testing and why is it not always used ?
PSA testing is used to determine the presence of prostate cancer. Known to be very unreliable with a high rate of false positives (75) and false negatives (15 percent). It can be raised in a number of conditions other than malignancy
What conditions can PSA be raised in ?
- Prostate cancer
- BPH
- Prostatitis
- UTI
- Vigorous exercise like cycling
- Recent ejaculation or prostate stimulation.
What are the two methods (basic not names) of management of BpH.
One to reduce symptoms and another to reduce the size of the prostate.
What medication can be used for symptom control in BPH ?
Tamulosin to relax the smooth muscle
What is one of the notable side effects of tamulosin used to treat BPH ?
Can cause postural hypotension.
What medication can be used to reduce the size of the prostate in BPH ?
5-A reductase inhibitors like finasteride. Can take up to 6 months to treat
What are the notable side effects of finasteride in treating BPH ?
Sexual dysfunction due to reduced testosterone