prerenal uremia

prerenal uremia

Etymology: L, prae, before, ren, kidney; Gk, ouron, urine, haima, blood

a condition of kidney failure in which the primary cause may be outside the kidney, as in conjestive heart failure or some severe cases of alkalosis.

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uremia

1. an excess in the blood of urea, creatinine, and other nitrogenous end products of protein and amino acid metabolism; more correctly referred to as azotemia.

2. in current usage, the syndrome of chronic renal failure. As the glomerular filtration rate falls in either acute tubular necrosis or chronic renal failure, serum urea (usually expressed as blood urea nitrogen content, BUN) and creatinine rise to very high levels. However, BUN and creatinine measurements are only roughly correlated with the clinical signs of uremia. Other nitrogenous compounds present in small amounts may produce most of the toxic effects. Some uremic signs are due to losses of kidney function that do not involve azotemia.

Uremia is a syndrome that occurs as the end-stage in renal insufficiency. The pathology includes stomatitis, pneumonopathy, endocarditis and gastritis. In the dog and cat there is vomiting, diarrhea, anemia and sometimes ulcerative stomatitis. In horses there is depression and chronic diarrhea. Cattle show somnolence, depression and recumbency. Chickens develop visceral gout. Called also kidney failure.

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prerenal uremia

see azotemia.