Nephrology

Nephrology

Nephrology is the study of kidneys and their related diseases. Specializing in the treatment of a variety of conditions related to kidney disease, nephrologists care for patients who experience illnesses as a result of abnormalities in their body's water and/or mineral balance (electrolyte disorders), hypertension (high blood pressure), diabetes-related kidney diseases and kidney failure, including those who must rely on dialysis or a kidney transplant.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) includes any condition that may damage your kidneys and/or decrease their ability to keep you healthy. If allowed to get worse, CKD results in high waste levels in your blood. Complications that can result include high blood pressure, anemia (low blood count), weak bones, poor nutritional health and nerve damage. CKD also increases the risk of having heart and/or blood vessel disease and may be caused by other conditions, such as diabetes or high blood pressure. CKD can also happen slowly over a long period of time. That's why early detection can help keep CKD from getting worse and creating other problems. A growing subspecialty, interventional nephrology really applies to all new and existing procedures in the practice of nephrology with the goal of improving care of nephrology patients. These procedures include vascular access, dialysis, endovascular and surgical techniques.

If you or a loved one needs assistance with any of these nephrology services, the specialists at Illinois Kidney Disease and Hypertension Center can help: