New to this forum - have question!

I've been posting in several other forums on this board, but this is my first time here....I do have SLE, and I recently had an abdominal ultrasound and need help understanding one of the "findings":

Mild renal cortical thinning suggests mild bilateral renal atrophy

The word "atrophy" gives me a very bad feeling, but the word "mild" seems to indicate that this is not as serious as it sounds...? What does "renal cortical thinning" mean, and is it something typically seen in people with SLE? Am I in trouble??

Yes, I know you guys aren't (usually) doctors, but I am hoping that someone here has had a similar ultrasound result and can speak from their experience.

Thanks in advance for your help!!

JoAnn

Hi Amy,

Thanks so much for the welcome! :)

I have been referred to a nephrologist, and called yesterday to schedule an appointment, but the earliest they could fit me in is December! They asked me to fax over my medical info and the doctor would review it and if I need to be seen earlier, he will tell them to squeeze me in to the schedule somehow.

I think that my bloodwork has been OK...there's been no hint of kidney problems in lab work as far as I know.

I just found a helpful blog post that explains cortical thinning in a very accessible way:

krisandshawn.blogspot.com/2008/04/bilateral-diffuse-cortical-thinning.html

So the basic info I gathered from this site is (I'm pretty sure that most people here know a lot of this stuff but I didn't so I'm going to list it so I can organize it in my head!):

1. The cortex is the part of the kidney that does the work of filtering the blood.

2. Cortical thinning means irreversible kidney damage has occurred, because you've lost tissue that won't come back no matter what changes you make to your lifestyle.

3. There are 5 stages of kidney damage; Stage 1 is mild damage, Stage 5 is kidney failure.

4. The test most often used to diagnose renal insufficiency is creatinine levels in urine. Unfortunately, although that test is cheap and easy enough to do for everyone during their regular exams, creatinine levels don't rise until kidney function has already dropped below about 70% of necessary. Since healthy people have almost twice the renal capacity they need, that means that over 60% of total kidney function is lost before the problem is noticed.

5. There are different causes of this sort of kidney damage (the only one they listed in this post is a genetic vascular problem called FMD, but there are others).

6. You must control your weight, your blood pressure, your protein intake, your cholesterol, and you should exercise...all of these things will help to slow down the atrophy process. Apparently the less you weigh, the less work your kidneys have to do, probably because your total blood volume is reduced....?

It is scary because two of my aunts died from kidney failure and both had lupus.....it runs in my family.

Well, as you say, it's mild, so they caught it early! That's a very good thing!
JoAnn

Hi!
I see this posting is from August. Hope it's ok if I add to it =) I was just Dx with MPGN TYPE 1 which was told is a rare kidney disease. My Diagnosis was by having a Kidney Biopsy preformed. Did you ever get in to see the Nephrologist? :o The only symptom I was having was edema in my feet/ankles(never had that in my life) but my ultrasound was neg. Next came the biopsy. I was told my kidneys are not filtering the protein because the cells are attacking each other thinking their 'bad' which then causes the glomerular basement membrane(lower part of ur kidneys) to thicken the walls which then doesn't want to allow proper kidney filteration. My dx seemed to come outta nowhere, because I have no family history of kidney problems. I now tho have been dx with Lupus and Sjorjens being the underlining diagnosis and now cause of the kidneys wanting to shut down :( Thats what caught my eye, is that u have SLE Lupus with no kidney issues, and mine seems to be the opposite starting with the kidneys,and with not having Lupus, and also my ultrasound came back 'normal' it was my bloodwrk n 24UA that led to the biopsy.


Hope all is well, and that your ultrasound was actually a mild case of..'not 2 much of anything':)
Love to hear what came about with your appts!!

Take Care
~SNC~