The Kidney

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The human kidneys are two bean-shaped organs, one on each side of the backbone. They represent about 0.5% of the total weight of the body, but receive 20–25% of the total arterial blood pumped by the heart. Each contains from one to two million nephrons. The nephron is a tube; closed at one end, open at the other. The nephron makes urine by filtering the blood of its small molecules and ions and then reclaiming the needed amounts of useful materials. Surplus or waste molecules and ions are left to flow out as urine. In 24 hours the kidneys reclaim ~1,300 g of NaCl, ~400 g NaHCO3, ~180 g glucose, almost all of the 180 liters of water that entered the tubules. Chronic kidney disease includes conditions that damage your kidneys and decrease their ability to keep you healthy by doing the jobs listed. If kidney disease gets worse, wastes can build to high levels in your blood and make you feel sick. You may develop complications like high blood pressure, anemia (low blood count), weak bones, poor nutritional health and nerve damage. Also, kidney disease increases your risk of having heart and blood vessel disease. These problems may happen slowly over a long period of time. Chronic kidney disease may be caused by diabetes, high blood pressure and other disorders. Early detection and treatment can often keep chronic kidney disease from getting worse. When kidney disease progresses, it may eventually lead to kidney failure, which requires dialysis or a kidney transplant to maintain life.