Nursing Student Class Projects (Formerly MSN)
Academic Term
Summer 2015
Document Type
Project
Course Number
NURS 5330
Course Name
Advanced Pathophysiology
Professor’s Name
John D. Chovan, James R. Cacchillo
Keywords
PKD, Patient Education, Renal Diseases
Subject Categories
Medical Pathology | Medicine and Health Sciences | Nursing | Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases
Abstract
A young male patient was recently admitted to the intensive care unit at a local hospital with hypertensive urgency and acute renal failure of unknown etiology. A renal ultrasound showed polycystic kidneys and upon further investigation, it was discovered that the patient’s mother passed away last year from end stage renal failure related to polycystic kidney disease (PKD). The aforementioned case and the recent study into inherited disorders are what prompted further investigation into PKD. Liebau and Serra (2013) explain that “inherited cystic kidney diseases, autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) and autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease (ARPKD), are the most common monogenetic causes of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in children and adults” (p. 1771). It is estimated that one in a thousand individuals will be diagnosed with PKD in adulthood and one in twenty thousand in childhood (Liu et al, 2012, p. 1). Considering this statistic, patients with PKD may be seen throughout all facets of health care. As a health care provider, primary or otherwise, it is important to educate and appropriately treat PKD patients in an effort to prevent unnecessary damage to their bodies related to complications of the disease. The utilization of genetic testing is not standard treatment, but may pose some benefits to certain at risk patients in identifying the disease. However, healthy lifestyle choices are necessary in order to slow disease progression.
Recommended Citation
Dendinger, Dana, "Raising Awareness: Polycystic Kidney Disease" (2015). Nursing Student Class Projects (Formerly MSN). 70.
https://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/stu_msn/70