Any understanding of any disease has associated with itself five dimensions that make it concrete in the mind of the reader. These five things are causes, symptoms, complications, diagnosis, and treatment. In this blog, our focus will be listing out these 5 important things to know about the ectopic kidney.

Normally both of your kidneys are placed at the central position of your back. Each is at either side of the spine. A kidney is said to be ectopic when its location of it is not at the normal position but rather is deviated above or below the usual positioning. An ectopic kidney can also be moved to the side where the other kidney is located. Statistically only 1 out of 10 patients having ectopic kidney are ever diagnosed and in that figure, most of the patients are diagnosed while getting treated for some other conditions. The reason for this is that often time ectopic kidney does not cause any symptoms and is not a matter of grave concern.

Causes of ectopic kidney

Ectopic kidney is caused in the developmental stage of the kidney, which means during the development of an embryo in the womb. The cause of ectopic kidney can be one of the following:

• Inheritance of genetic information that causes an ectopic kidney can be the potential cause of the ectopic kidney. This information passed from parents to offspring is said to be a genetic defect in the baby while growing. Often, a genetic defect that causes an ectopic kidney may be the origin of other health conditions.
• Sometimes due to improper development of kidney tissue, the signal of the movement of the kidney to its position is distorted which causes the kidney to be ectopic.
• Due to the incorporation of some infection in the embryonic baby, sometimes, the kidney becomes ectopic. This infection is often passed to the baby through the infected mother.

Symptoms of ectopic kidney

Ectopic kidney usually is an asymptomatic condition but in some cases, few complications can indicate the presence of one. These complications act as the symptoms of ectopic kidney

• Kidney stones
• Hematuria: the presence of blood in the urine
• Hypertension
• Urinary tract infection
• Fever

The feeling of a lump in the abdomen

Complications caused by ectopic kidney

Usually, there are no health complications caused by the ectopic kidney but if it does, the following are the most common of those:

• The ectopic kidney can lead to kidney failure as in some cases ectopic kidney may have inadequate efficiency in its functionality of filtering urine from the blood. With time this inadequacy can lead to the kidney being dysfunctional
• An ectopic kidney can be in a fused state with the other kidney. This leads to the increased susceptibility of the kidney to injury. Generally, people with fused ectopic kidneys are not considered medically fit to involve in vigorous activity. It is wise to get advised by a medical professional for your child to play certain sports if they are conditioned with fused ectopic kidney
• Vesicoureteral Reflux: People with ectopic kidney may suffer from VUR causing other urine-related issues such as UTI or even blockage or urine

Diagnosis of ectopic kidney

The diagnosis of the ectopic kidney is done by a practitioner known as a Radiologist. As already mentioned, the ectopic kidney is a condition that usually is not diagnosed. 1 out of 10 patients gets to know that they are having ectopic kidneys. Even in these patients, most of them are diagnosed due to the presence of some other disease. There are some methodologies categorized into imaging tests that are responsible to diagnose ectopic kidneys.

• Magnetic resonance imaging: In this test fields of waves are used to take pictures of the internal organs of your body.
• Radionuclide scanning: In this method, an isotope known as a tracer is used to trace the disorder which in this case is in an ectopic kidney.
• Ultrasound: Using the sound waves this test creates the image of organs describing their dimensions and positions
• Voiding Cystourethrogram: This test uses the assistance of an X-Ray to image the urinary tract

Intravenous Pyelogram: It is the test in which a dye is injected into the veins of the patient to specifically image the kidneys and ureters through X-Ray

Treatment of ectopic kidney

An ectopic kidney is a silent form of the condition and needs no treatment if it is not causing any complications or symptoms. The treatment of an ectopic kidney is done when it affects the normal functionality of the kidney or causes blockage or backing up of the urine. Generally, the complications caused by ectopic kidneys are surgically treated individually in case the kidney itself is not in a gravely damaged condition.

For more information contact Alfa Kidney care