What Does High PTH Mean for Kidney Patients

PTH is short for parathyroid hormone. With kidney disease, especially advanced kidney disease, it is likely for you to have high PTH. What does high PTH mean for kidney patients?

Why kidney disease cause high PTH?

The key purpose of the parathyroid glands is to keep the calcium and phosphorus in the blood at a constant normal level. -The damaged kidneys can not remove phosphorus from the blood, leading to high blood phosphorus. Calcium and phosphorus are counteractive. Producing more PTH can raise blood calcium level so as to lower phosphorus.

-Kidney has many other functions besides blood purification. When your kidneys fail, they do not convert vitamin D into its active form so that calcium does not get into the body from food. As a result, blood calcium level fall. Stimulated by low levels of calcium in the blood, PTH may be produced in large quantity. The extra PTH will pull calcium from the bones, correcting the low blood level.

Dangers of high PTH

High PTH can not only increase calcium absorption from food, but also takes calcium out of the bones so as to cause bone pain and fractures. The excessive calcium may deposit in the tissues and organs throughout the body, such as lungs, heart, blood vessels, joints and skin, leading to calcification.

What to do with high PTH for kidney patients?

-If the parathyroid glands go out of control and produce far too much PTH, you may require an operation to remove the glands.

-In other cases, you may need vitamin D medications to help your body absorb calcium. You may need dialysis to lower phosphorus level. Besides, you may use phosphate binders to reduce phosphorus absorption. If your blood calcium level is high, you may take calcimimetics to lower it.

What does high PTH mean for kidney patients? After reading this article, you may have a clear mind about this question. If you still have any other questions, please leave a message below or send emails to kidneycares@hotmail.com.