Distal renal tubular acidosis is a disease that occurs when the kidneys don't remove acid properly into the urine, leaving the blood too acidic (called acidosis).

Renal tubular acidosis - distal; Renal tubular acidosis type I; Type I RTA; RTA - distal; Classical RTA

Your kidneys normally regulate your body's pH by removing acids from the blood and discarding them into the urine.

Distal renal tubular acidosis (Type I RTA) is caused by a defect in the kidney tubes that causes acid to build up in the bloodstream.

Type I RTA is caused by a variety of conditions, including:

• Amyloidosis
• Fabry disease
• Sickle cell disease
• Sjogren syndrome
• Systemic lupus erythematosus
• Wilson disease
• Use of certain drugs such as amphotericin B, lithium, and analgesics

Images

Kidney anatomy

Kidney - blood and urine flow

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Distal renal tubular acidosis Symptoms

Review Date: 11/30/2009
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; Herbert Y. Lin, MD, PHD, Nephrologist, Massachusetts General Hospital; Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)