Transcripts
DR. BRANDT:
In acute HUS, we have areas of thrombotic microangiopathy throughout the kidney, predominantly in the cortex or outer part of the kidney where the glomeruli are. And we find a number of clinical abnormalities.
The creatinine goes up because it's not being cleared by the kidney as fast as it's being made by the muscles. The GFR is low, it's 23 in this case, reflecting a decreased ability of the kidney to filter blood. There may be high blood pressure, more protein is found in the urine, and the protein to creatinine ratio is elevated as well. The urine output is substantially decreased, again reflecting a reduced ability to filter blood into urine. Not all patients will have these findings, but those with severe HUS will have what we call oliguria or decreased urine output.
