Injury - kidney and ureter

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Kidney anatomy

Kidney - blood and urine flow

Kidney damage; Toxic injury of the kidney; Kidney injury; Traumatic injury of the kidney; Fractured kidney; Inflammatory injury of the kidney; Bruised kidney; Ureteral injury

The goals are to treat emergency symptoms and prevent or treat complications. You may need to stay in a hospital for close observation because of the risk of internal blood loss from an injured kidney.

Nonsurgical treatments for kidney injury may include:

• Analgesics for pain relief
• Bed rest for 1 - 2 weeks or until bleeding is reduced
• Close observation and treatment for symptoms of kidney failure
• Dietary restrictions
• Medications to treat damage caused by toxic substances or illnesses (for example, chelation therapy for lead poisoning or allopurinol to lower uric acid in the blood due to gout)
• Stopping medications or exposure to substances that may have injured the kidney
• Medications such as corticosteroids or immunosuppressants if the injury was caused by inflammation
• Treatment of acute kidney failure

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Surgical treatments for kidney injury may include:

• Surgery to repair a "fractured" or torn kidney, torn blood vessels, torn ureter, or similar injury
• Surgery to remove the entire kidney (nephrectomy), drain the space around the kidney, or stop the bleeding (angioembolization)

Surgery may be needed to treat a ureter injury.

The outcome depends on the cause and extent of injury. The damage may be mild and reversible, immediately life-threatening, or long-term and causing complications.

The kidney may return to normal function, or it may go into acute or chronic failure.

• Acute kidney failure, one or both kidneys
• Bleeding (may be minor or severe)
• Bruising of the kidney
• Chronic kidney failure, one or both kidneys
• Infection (peritonitis, sepsis)
• Pain
• Renal artery stenosis
• Renal hypertension
• Shock
• Urinary tract infection

Call your health care provider if you have symptoms of an injury to the kidney or ureter, especially if you have a history of:

• Exposure to toxic substances
• Illness
• Infection
• Physical injury

Go to the emergency room or call the local emergency number (such as 911) if you have decreased urine output after a kidney injury. This may be a symptom of kidney failure.

Review Date: 09/03/2010
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; Scott Miller, MD, Urologist in private practice in Atlanta, Georgia. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org).