Polycystic Kidney Disease
Alternate Names : Polycystic Disease of the Kidneys
What are the signs and symptoms of the disease?
Signs and symptoms depend on the type of polycystic kidney disease. Children with the infantile form of PKD often have very large, malformed kidneys at birth. These children are usually critically ill because their lungs don't development correctly due to the PKD. Most affected children die in the first few days of life.
Children with the childhood form of PKD usually get symptoms before adulthood. They often have kidney failure which causes:
fatigue
nausea
vomiting
loss of appetite
itching
shortness of breath and
difficulty breathing
In addition, these children often develop scar tissue in the liver that can
cause liver failure or bleeding in the gut. Many children die from infections,
kidney failure, or liver failure before or during early adulthood. Other
children have a milder course and may even have no symptoms until adulthood.
The adult form of PKD is the most common form. Signs and symptoms do not
usually begin until adulthood and may include:
high blood pressure
blood in the urine
flank pain, or pain on the
side of the abdomen
symptoms of kidney failure, which include fatigue, nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite
itching,
shortness of breath, and loss of
the
sex drive may also occur
repeated kidney infections or kidney stones
stroke, or lack of blood flow to the brain. This is caused by abnormalities in the arteries in the brain because of PKD. The arteries may form abnormal areas of widening, called cerebral aneurysms, which can burst and cause life-threatening bleeding into the brain.
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