Mod 8 (Section II): Lesson 2
nephrolithiasis
the condition of having a kidney stone; it comes from the combining forms nephr/o, also meaning kidney, and lith/o, meaning stone or calculus. A key symptom is side pain with dysuria, which means painful or difficult urination [dys- (difficult) + ur/o (urine) + -ia (condition) = dysuria]. Kidney stones can lead to complications, such as secondary acute renal failure (ARF).
Renal Cell Carcinoma
Hematuria can signal a number of disorders; one of the more serious is renal cell carcinoma, a cancerous tumor of the kidney. The survival rate with this tumor is determined by the extent to which it spreads. It often metastasizes (spreads) to the bone and the lungs.
nephroliths or renal calculi
kidney stones
Bladder Carcinoma
Although many disorders of the urinary system involve the kidney, the bladder (cyst/o) is actually a more common site of malignancy, particularly in men, smokers, and individuals over the age of 50. Some kinds of chemicals used by industrial workers can also contribute to risk. This illustration shows carcinoma of the urinary bladder. Early symptoms usually include hematuria, polyuria, and dysuria. You will recall from Module 6 that a polyp is a small tumor-like growth projecting from any mucous membrane surface. These are often seen in the bladder. Occurrence of bladder polyps is a risk factor for bladder cancer. Also, most people associate stones, or calculi, with the kidney, but the urinary bladder can contain stones, too; such a stone is called a cystolith. This condition (-iasis) of the presence of stones (lith/o) in the urinary bladder is called cystolithiasis.
PKD
Heredity can also play a part in kidney disease. One hereditary disorder, called polycystic kidney disease (PKD), is a condition in which multiple (poly-) fluid-filled sacs, or cysts (cyst/o), form both inside and outside the kidney. The word cystic can refer to a fluid-filled sac or a cyst or growth. Polycystic disease is progressive. It usually shows no symptoms until adulthood. When it begins to manifest itself, hematuria (blood in the urine) is one of the early symptoms, along with nephrolithiasis (kidney stones), urinary tract infection (UTI), hypertension, and uremia, an accumulation of toxins in the blood (a toxic state in which a large amount of nitrogenous wastes accumulate in the blood). Similar to this is azotemia (azot/o = nitrogen). You will recall that the suffix -emia means a condition of blood. Uremia occurs when the kidneys stop functioning properly. Polycystic kidney disease causes nephrolysis, or destruction (-lysis) of kidney (nephr/o) tissue, and nephromegaly, enlargement of the kidney. (NOTE: The term nephrolysis can also be used to describe the surgical procedure of freeing a kidney from adhesions.) If nephrolysis is pathologic, it may be caused by substances that are nephrotoxic, or destructive to kidney cells.
Hydronephrosis
Hydronephrosis is an abnormal distention of the kidney with urine (hydr/o means water). This may occur when urine cannot flow out of the kidney, as when blocked by a stone or by a tumor.
urolithiasis
The general term for the condition of calculi anywhere in the urinary tract is urolithiasis. Renal calculi are thought to be formed by high levels of calcium or uric acid in the blood. They tend to block passageways in the renal pelvis, the ureter, or the bladder.
Ureteral dysfunction
Ureteral dysfunction is the disruption of the normal flow of urine through the ureter. It may be caused by the presence of a stone in the ureter, a condition called ureterolithiasis. If the stone creates a blockage, it can cause ureteritis, inflammation of the ureter. If the obstruction occurs in the lower part of the ureter, urine will tend to accumulate proximal to the stone, resulting in hydroureter (see illustration). In addition to stones, ureteral dysfunction can also be caused by ureterostenosis (a narrowing, or stenosis, of the lumen of a ureter) or by a ureterocele, which is a prolapse or herniation of a ureter. A lumen is the open space inside a tubular organ.
