Glomerulonephritis Case Study

Glomerulonephritis, as a defined disease, is very broad in terms of a medical condition and is usually only diagnosed after a routine medical check-up or tests for another condition discover; the symptoms may not be obvious. This disease targets the membrane tissues made of tiny filtering cluster units within the kidneys called glomerulus, which comes from a Greek word meaning filter (NIH, 2014). This illness presents as an inflammation of the tiny filtering units called glomeruli of the kidneys that can be caused by a passing illness associated with an infection or as a result of an autoimmune disease (Nemours, 1995-2016). Glomerulonephritis is a multi-symptom disease caused by genetics or environmental factors that can have variable degrees

The kidneys are located in the posterior section of the retroperitoneal cavity and are small, dark red kidney-bean shaped organs in the lower part of the rib cage (Marieb, The Urinary System, 2015). They are undervalued organs considering how essential they are for the body’s ability to maintain homeostasis. The kidneys filter about 120-150 quarts of blood to produce about 1-2 quarts of urine each day (NIH, 2014). Blood initially enters the kidneys through the renal artery. It then flows into the segmental artery before moving into the interlobar artery. From the interlobar artery the filtrate enters the arcuate artery before branching into the cortical radiate artery, which feeds into the afferent arteriole, before passing into the glomerulus where it begins to filter out waste. The filtered waste is then collected by renal tubule. The tubules drain to collecting ducts and all of these components together makes up a small unit called a nephron. Each kidney has over a million nephrons (Marieb, Blood Supply/ Nephrons, 2015). They filter out wastes that run through different body systems via blood; the majority of that waste is nitrogenous wastes, toxins, excess fluids, electrolytes, and drugs. These waste products are eliminated as urine. While waste are removed vital enzymes, hormones, and water are returned

There are two types of glomerulonephritis—acute renal failure (ARF) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). The ACF form generally develops suddenly as a result of an infection or illness, such as, group A streptococci bacteria, hepatitis, or in diseases such as lupus or HIV (Mathias, 2013). This type may require dialysis to replace renal function while it lasts, however, kidney function usually returns after the primary illness is treated. Many acute patients will not have any other complications as no permanent damage is done. Whereas CKD is found in a person that has had glomerulonephritis for months to years in some cases and may be asymptomatic until the kidney has become irreversibly damaged. ARF can evolve to become chronic if the glomeruli do not respond to