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Acute glomerulonephritis
Is acute nephritis easy to treat?
In most cases, acute nephritis is not difficult to treat because the disease itself is self-limiting, meaning that acute nephritis can heal naturally within about 3 to 4 weeks. However, acute nephritis can cause some complications, and in severe cases, it may lead to disability or death. Therefore, when patients with acute nephritis develop serious complications, treatment may be relatively difficult or complications such as pulmonary infections, heart failure, and acute renal failure may occur. But with appropriate treatment, most cases are hopeful to be controlled.
Acute nephritis has the following characteristics:
Acute nephritis has the following characteristics: First, patients with acute nephritis often have a history of a precursor upper respiratory tract infection. After catching a cold, patients may develop hematuria, proteinuria, or anuria. Second, patients with acute nephritis will experience a decrease in complement C3 in the blood. After recovery from acute nephritis, complement C3 can restore itself. Third, acute nephritis is self-limiting; generally, the patient's condition will gradually improve over three to four weeks, and recovery can be complete after eight weeks. However, a very small number of patients might experience prolonged illness, evolving into chronic nephritis. Fourth, the pathological characteristic of acute nephritis is diffuse proliferation of capillary endothelial cells, which is a manifestation of pathological damage to the glomeruli.
Will acute nephritis cause facial swelling?
Acute nephritis can also cause facial swelling in patients. The pathological damage in patients with acute nephritis is the diffuse proliferation of glomerular cells, which reduces the glomeruli's ability to filter blood. As a result, patients may experience proteinuria and hematuria. Decreased kidney function in water excretion can lead to water accumulation in the body, causing edema in the lower limbs or facial area. The increase in urinary protein can also increase vascular permeability and decrease plasma osmotic pressure, leading to the movement of water outside the blood vessels. These factors can all cause edema. In the body, water tends to accumulate in areas where tissues are looser, such as the facial area. Thus, it is possible for patients with acute nephritis to experience facial swelling.
How many days does the fever last in acute nephritis?
Generally speaking, acute nephritis itself does not cause fever symptoms in patients. Acute nephritis can cause visible hematuria and an increase in foamy urine. Some patients may also experience a reduction in urine output, severe edema, kidney failure, and other clinical symptoms. However, fever is not a common symptom caused by acute nephritis itself. If such patients develop a fever, it may be due to lung or gastrointestinal infections caused by acute nephritis, as patients with acute nephritis have lowered immune capabilities and are often prone to bacterial infections in other parts of the body, such as coughing and sputum production. In such cases, the patient might have lung inflammation and would require antibiotic treatment to kill the bacteria. Generally, most patients' conditions can be controlled after 10 to 14 days.
How long does acute nephritis require hospitalization?
Generally speaking, regardless of the disease, the condition is often stable when patients are discharged from the hospital, including the management of acute nephritis. The length of hospital stay for patients with acute nephritis depends on the individual condition of the patient. If the condition of acute nephritis is mild and the patient does not have obvious symptoms, such as mild proteinuria and hematuria, such patients may be hospitalized for about a week. After assessing the condition and predicting gradual improvement, the patient can be discharged. However, if acute nephritis causes some serious complications and the patient's condition is unstable, such as leading to congestive heart failure, some patients may also develop acute renal failure and severe consequences like lung infections. Before these complications are controlled and stabilized, the patient cannot be discharged, and the hospital stay may even exceed one month.
Symptoms of Acute Nephritis
Acute nephritis may present with some clinical symptoms. The main characteristics are that patients may have hematuria and proteinuria. When there is a significant amount of blood in the urine, it can be detected by the naked eye, known as gross hematuria. For instance, the color of the patient's urine could be dark like strong tea or bright red. Patients might also experience increased urine foam due to the presence of proteins in the urine, especially in cases where there is a significant presence of urinary proteins. A minority of patients may experience acute renal failure, often characterized by reduced urine output, or even anuria. Due to the reduced urine output, the water intake of patients cannot be fully excreted, leading to edema. Patients may experience swelling of the facial and bilateral lower limbs or even the whole body.