ARF must be prevented in high-risk patients. This includes those with chronic diseases that can affect the kidneys like diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. Heart attack can lead to cardiogenic shock and must be treated early. Pregnant patients who suffer from eclampsia, a hypertensive condition, have a high risk for kidney damage.
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Patients with major injuries due to accidents require optimal treatment to maintain bloodflow to the kidneys and should be aggressively resuscitated.
Some drugs are nephrotoxic (poisonous to the kidney), and therefore damaging to the kidneys. This includes certain antibiotics called aminoglycosides, anti-inflammatory drugs and the contrast media used in specific X-ray tests of the urinary tract.
Written by Dr K. Coetzee, reviewed by Dr R. Moosa, head of the Renal Unit, Tygerberg Academic Hospital.
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