Acute nephritic syndrome

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Kidney anatomy

Acute nephritic syndrome

Alternative Names:

Glomerulonephritis - acute; Acute glomerulonephritis; Nephritis syndrome - acute
Symptoms:

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Despite the diversity of diseases that cause acute nephritis below, they share many symptoms in common:

Blood in the urine (urineappears dark, tea colored, or cloudy.)
Decreased urine volume (little or no urine may be produced.)
Swelling
- facial swelling
- swelling around the eye socket
- arms, hands, feet, legs (dependent edema)
- abdomen
- generalized
General aches and pains ( joint pain, muscle aches)
General ill feeling (malaise)
Headache
Blurred vision
Slow, sluggish, lethargic movement

Late symptoms include the following:

Seizures
Decreased alertness, drowsiness, confusion
Nausea and vomiting
Easy bruising or bleeding
Cough containing mucus or pink, frothy material coughed up
Difficulty breathing, especially at night, while lying down, or from exercise
Flank pain
High blood pressure

Signs and tests:

Your blood pressure may be elevated. There may be signs of fluid overload (more fluid in circulation than the heart can effectively pump), including abnormal heart and lung sounds. The jugular (neck) veins may be distended from increased pressure.

Generalized swelling is often present. When examining your abdomen, your health care provider may find signs of fluid overload and an enlarged liver. There may be signs of acute kidney failure in addition to the above symptoms.

Urinalysis may show protein, renal tubular cells, blood, white blood cells, and casts.
Protein in the urine test may be positive.
Urine appearance and color are abnormal.
Azotemia (nitrogen-containing waste products in the blood) may be evidenced by:
- elevated BUN
- elevated creatinine
The creatinine clearance may be decreased.
A potassium test may be elevated.
A kidney biopsy reveals glomerulonephritis (inflammation of the glomeruli), which may indicate the cause.