| Polycystic Kidney Disease |
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The most common hereditary kidney disease leading to ESRD is polycystic kidney disease (PKD). A separate booklet on PKD describes this condition in further details. Once CRF develops, invariably though not always, there is a progressive loss of kidney function and eventually almost entire kidney function is irreversibly lost. For all practical purposes the kidneys are dead.
This stage is called End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). At this stage, it is not possible to manage with just dietary modification and medicines; life-long dialysis or renal transplantation becomes mandatory for a person to survive. There have been a few exceptional cases where a diagnosis of ESRD was made and eventually the patient had a recovery of his kidney function. In these instances actually, there was an error in the diagnosis. Once ESRD develops, no therapy (allopathic, ayurvedic, homeopathic, unani, etc.) can revive the kidneys. Just as a dead person cannot be made alive, dead kidneys cannot be revived. Unfortunately, a few practitioners of other modality of medicine (ayurvedic, homeopathic, unani, naturopathy etc.) offer false hope to patients with ESRD, who, not wanting dialysis or transplant, resort to their therapy and deteriorate so much that at times it may be difficult to salvage them. It must be stressed, that once ESRD develops, dialysis and transplantation are the only treatment options at present. One should not fall a prey to any other from of treatment. However, one certainly could take another opinion to confirm the diagnosis of ESRD.
It is characterized by the formation of kidney cysts that enlarge over time and may cause serious kidney damage and even kidney failure. Other inherited diseases that affect the kidneys include Alport's Syndrome,primary hyperoxaluria and cystinuria.
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