Congenital Polycystic Kidney Disease: Symptoms and Treatment

Congenital means present at birth, so generally refers to those abnormalities that are permanent birth defects. There are many different kinds and categories, and cystic disease is one common type. What I am going to talk about is to give an introduction about symptoms and treatment of Congenital Polycystic Kidney Disease.

Congenital Polycystic Kidney Disease Symptoms
▪ Back pain. This is the most common symptom associated with the disease. Pain in the back can be intermittent or persistent and can radiate around the sides of the body;
▪ Hematuria, or blood in the urine. It can arise as a result of the disorder. If this happens, the urine can appear orange, red or pink in color. Approximately 50% of patients experience this symptom;
▪ High blood pressure. Kidney injury can interfere the body's function to excrete wastes from the blood stream. If this occur, the blood pressure may become elevated;
▪ Cysts of liver and pancreas. Besides the kidneys, this condition can also cause cysts to form on other organs like the liver or pancreas.

Congenital Polycystic Kidney Disease Treatment
Currently, there is no cure for this disease and treatment is available for the symptoms including medications and a proper diet. Moreover, there is a new therapy that can help us stop the growth of cysts and shrink them in size gradually. The treatment is known as Immunotherapy.
The swollen kidneys in PKD occurs due to enlarged cysts caused by ceaseless division of lining cells in the cysts and secretion of cystic fluid. Big cysts will put pressure to the surrounding renal tissue, thus causing decline of kidney function.
Immunotherapy is developed after we make the mechanism of Congenital Polycystic Kidney Disease clear, so it can treat the disease from the root cause. Under this therapy, we can prevent the lining cells' fluid secretion and stop the enlargement of cysts. More importantly, Immunotherapy can also shrink the cysts over time, so patients' condition will get significantly improved and then they can live a normal life.

Learn More: Can Cysts in PKD Cause Blood in Urine