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nephropathy

 
Dictionary: ne·phrop·a·thy   (nə-frŏp'ə-thē) pronunciation
n., pl., -thies.
A disease or abnormality of the kidney.

nephropathic neph'ro·path'ic (nĕf'rə-păth'ĭk) adj.

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Dental Dictionary: nephropathy
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(nə-frop′ ə-the)
n

Kidney disease.

Veterinary Dictionary: nephropathy
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Any disease of the kidneys.

  • analgesic n. — see analgesic nephropathy.
  • baby chick n. — see visceral gout.
  • familial n. — different types of renal disease have been recorded as occurring on a familial basis in Finnish-Landrace sheep and several breeds of dogs, including Lhasa apsos, Shih tzus, Samoyeds, Bull terriers, Norwegian elkhounds, Cocker spaniels and Basenjis.
  • hypercalcemic n. — see nephrocalcinosis.
  • juvenile n. — suspected of being familial in many dog breeds especially Malamute, Miniature schnauzer, Keeshond, German shepherd; characterized by renal failure in immature or young adult dogs. The pathogenesis is poorly understood, hence the retention of the title nephropathy.
  • mycotoxic n. — caused by mycotoxins, such as ochratoxin and citrinin, produced by Penicillium and Aspergillus spp.
  • pigment n. — see hemoglobinuric nephrosis.
  • reflux n. — pyelonephritis in which the renal scarring results from vesicoureteric reflux, with radiological appearance of intrarenal reflux.
Wikipedia: Nephropathy
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Nephropathy
Classification and external resources
MeSH D007674

Nephropathy refers to damage to or disease of the kidney. An older term for this is nephrosis.

Contents

Causes

Causes of nephropathy include administration of analgesics, xanthine oxidase deficiency, and long-term exposure to lead or its salts. Chronic conditions that can produce nephropathy include systemic lupus erythematosus, diabetes mellitus and high blood pressure (hypertension), which lead to diabetic nephropathy and hypertensive nephropathy, respectively.

Analgesics

One cause of nephropathy is the long term usage of analgesics. The pain medicines which can cause kidney problems include aspirin, acetaminophen, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs. This form of nephropathy is "chronic analgesic nephritis," a chronic inflammatory change characterized by loss and atrophy of tubules and interstitial fibrosis and inflammation (BRS Pathology, 2nd edition).

Specifically, long term use of the analgesic phenacetin has been linked to renal papillary necrosis (necrotizing papillitis).

Xanthine oxidase deficiency

A second possible cause of nephropathy is due to decreased function of xanthine oxidase in the purine degradation pathway. Xanthine oxidase will degrade hypoxanthine to xanthine and then to uric acid. Xanthine is not very soluble in water; therefore, an increase in xanthine forms crystals (which can lead to kidney stones) and result in damage of the kidney. Drugs like allopurinol that are used to inhibit xanthine oxidase can therefore cause possible nephropathy.

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Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Dental Dictionary. Mosby's Dental Dictionary. Copyright © 2004 by Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Veterinary Dictionary. Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary 3rd Edition. Copyright © 2007 by D.C. Blood, V.P. Studdert and C.C. Gay, Elsevier. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Nephropathy" Read more