Viet Duc Hospital doctor examines patient after kidney transplant - Photo: DUONG LIEU
Kidney failure often progresses silently, if not detected early and treated promptly, it will quickly lead to end-stage kidney failure. At this point, the patient is forced to undergo dialysis or a kidney transplant.
DR. DUONG DUC HUNG
Causes of kidney failure in younger people
According to statistics, it is estimated that each year Vietnam has 8,000 more people with kidney failure, including many patients under 30 years old. Currently, there are about 800,000 patients needing dialysis and thousands of patients waiting for kidney transplants.
Speaking to Tuoi Tre on March 31, Dr. Nguyen Thanh Hoang, head of the Department of Nephrology and Dialysis at Hoc Mon Regional General Hospital (HCMC), said that the department is currently managing and monitoring the treatment of 114 patients with end-stage renal failure, many of whom are young people.
Every week, these patients have to go to the dialysis department for 3 times with dialysis time lasting from 3.5 - 4 hours/shift.
At Cho Ray Hospital, according to statistics from the artificial kidney department, from the beginning of the year to mid-March 2024, the department received 450 patients for regular dialysis, of which nearly 60 were under 35 years old - accounting for 15%.
With many years of experience working and treating patients with kidney failure, Dr. Hoang said that there are more and more people with end-stage chronic kidney failure and the number is getting younger. It is predicted that the number of people with chronic kidney failure will continue to increase in the near future.
According to Mr. Duong Duc Hung - Director of Viet Duc Hospital, kidney failure is getting younger because young people are exposed to more risks of getting the disease.
Young people may be exposed to toxic work environments, eat unsafe foods or abuse alcohol...
In addition, there are still cases of people who, upon discovering kidney failure, do not follow the doctor's treatment regimen but instead take folk remedies of unknown origin, leading to the disease becoming more severe.
Thousands of people waiting for kidney transplants
According to statistics from the National Organ Transplant Coordination Center, as of March 31, there were nearly 5,000 people nationwide on the kidney transplant waiting list. Experts say that most patients have co-morbidities and are at increased risk of dangerous complications such as heart failure, kidney failure, etc.
Kidney transplantation is a last resort when there are no other treatment options.
At Viet Duc Hospital (a pioneer in organ transplantation), kidney transplants have been performed on 1,800 patients to date. Dr. Nguyen The Cuong, Department of Nephrology and Dialysis at Viet Duc Hospital, said that among kidney transplant patients, 33% are female and 67% are male, with the majority being between the ages of 27 and 60.
Currently, kidney harvesting and transplant techniques are also increasingly developed. Hospitals have performed kidney harvesting and transplants using endoscopic techniques, helping living donors recover well after organ donation," Dr. Cuong shared.
Although the development of kidney transplant techniques has helped patients prolong their lives, Dr. Cuong said that currently the source of organ transplant donations in general and kidney donations in particular is still mainly living donors.
Kidney donors are living people who require health care after donation, which more or less affects their lives.
How to avoid kidney failure?
According to Dr. Hoang, the burden of end-stage chronic kidney failure is very large, forcing patients to undergo dialysis for life.
"Kidney transplants are very expensive, especially finding a source for a suitable kidney. After a kidney transplant, the patient must also take expensive medication for life. In many cases, kidney transplants only last a few years, and then the kidney fails," Dr. Hoang shared.
To prevent kidney failure, Dr. Hoang recommends that everyone should maintain a healthy lifestyle by specifically eating less salt, drinking enough water (2 liters/day), increasing physical activity, and having a balanced diet between animal protein and vegetable protein.
In addition, patients should not arbitrarily use painkillers or drugs of unknown origin. Regularly check blood pressure, blood sugar, and kidney function (if there are risk factors for diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, etc.)
Why do many young people suffer from kidney failure?
Speaking to Tuoi Tre, Mr. Duong Duc Hung, director of Viet Duc Hospital, said that kidney failure has two main causes: congenital and acquired kidney failure.
"In the past, acquired kidney failure was often caused by bacterial infections such as streptococcal nephritis. Nowadays, with the development of antibiotics, the cause of kidney failure due to inflammation has decreased. However, another extremely dangerous cause of kidney failure today is food.
Nowadays, many foods use too many toxic chemicals for preservation. In principle, substances when introduced into the body are metabolized and eliminated through the liver and kidneys.
Therefore, these foods affect liver and kidney function first," said Mr. Hung.
Explaining the increase in kidney failure in young people, Dr. Hoang also pointed out the main causes are a sedentary lifestyle and unscientific diet, which can easily lead to high blood pressure, diabetes and kidney failure.
In addition, using drugs without knowing their side effects that adversely affect the kidneys, and not having regular annual health check-ups, causes many people to have severe kidney disease without knowing it.
"Kidney failure progresses silently, often without any typical symptoms when the disease is in stages 1, 2 and 3. Only when we reach stage 4 do we have symptoms, but they are still very vague. Many people only discover it in the final stages," Dr. Hoang warned.
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