How is Hypertensive Nephropathy Diagnosed

Hypertensive Nephropathy refers to a type of chronic kidney disorder caused by poor controlling of high blood pressure. Kidney disease is a latent disease so people don’t pose any evident symptom at initial stage. People with chronic hypertension should be regularly screened for kidney disease testing so as to detect early signs of renal damage and treat it as early as possible. The following will introduce on how is Hypertensive Nephropathy diagnosed so as to raise awareness about the disease.

Hypertensive Nephropathy as a secondary renal disease caused by high blood pressure most commonly occurs in those with hypertension history for five to ten years, and the onset age is at one’s 40s to 50s. When kidneys get damaged by hypertension, the earliest sign of the disease would be nocturia, or increased night urination. Further kidney damage to the kidneys can cause proteinuria, and in some cases people experience intermittent gross hematuria. Hypertensive Nephropathy in its developing process is often combined with retinal arterial sclerosis, left ventricular hypertrophy, coronary disease, cerebral sclerosis, etc. So the disease tends to be more complicated than other types of kidney disorders.

Hypertensive Nephropathy can be diagnosed based on lab testings. Usually people are detected persistent and obviously elevated blood pressure, swelling in eyelids or lower limbs, dilated cardiac borders. Retinal arterial sclerosising lesion is detectable in many cases, and presence of fundus stripes, flame-shaped hemorrhage and cotton wool soft exudates will support the diagnosis of malignant renal arterial sclerosis. Those with accompanying hypertensive cerebral lesions may present corresponding nervous system physical signs. To support the diagnosis, some other lab tests may also be performed:

Urine microalbuminuria test. Hypertension can damage renal glomerular cells, so people may have an excess loss of albumin from urine. Microalbuminuria will detect early slight elevation of albumin in urine.

Urine sediment red blood cell counting. Urine sediment red blood cell counting suggests increased amount of red blood cells in urine, and most of the red blood cells are deformity.

Blood and urine beta-2 microglobulin testing. Beta-2 microglobulin testing us a sensitive indicator for glomerular filtration rate and renal tubular reabsorption functions. In early time, when kidneys are damaged moderately, beta-2 microglobulin levels in bloodstream can get elevated.

In early stage of the disease, people may experience increased levels of blood uric acid and increased levels of NAG and β2-MG. When hypertensive kidney disease progresses into end-stage, imaging test can detect obviously reduced kidney sizes. Other tests also include: electrocardiogram may suggest left ventricular high electric pressure, and chest X-ray or ultrasound may suggest main arterial sclerosis, left ventricular hypertrophy or enlargement.

The above introduces on the diagnosis of Hypertensive Nephropathy, hope it is of help for you. Anything unclear, you may contact us directly for free, and we’ll be ready for help!