“Is a late diagnosis normal in kids with chronic kidney failure?”
My son's friend was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure, but he never experienced symptoms until most of his kidney function was lost. Is this normal? He's 9 years old.
5 Answers
Yes
It can happen,depending on the etiology.
Unfortunately kidney disease often has no symptoms until most of the kidney function has been lost. That can be at any age. I'm sorry for your son's friend, and your son too.
Dear parent,
I am sorry to hear about your friend's son. You must be rather frustrated to find out about chronic kidney disease (CKD) late in the course of a disease. Of course, this really limits opportunities to slow progression of CKD. Unfortunately, this is not at all uncommon. It depends a bit about the underlying reason for CKD. You may lose more than 80% of kidney function before symptoms may become obvious. This is especially true for some slowly progressive disorders such as nephronophthisis, where sometimes the only symptom may be increased thirst and the need to pee at night a couple of times. The changes are very slow and the body may compensate for a long time. It is different if the disease that leads to CKD produces a lot of symptoms, but cases of renal dysplasia, oligomeganephronia, nephronophthisis and other diseases may progress so slowly and silently that some patients present when it is all too late.
Kind regards,
Guido Filler, MD, PhD, FRCPC
I am sorry to hear about your friend's son. You must be rather frustrated to find out about chronic kidney disease (CKD) late in the course of a disease. Of course, this really limits opportunities to slow progression of CKD. Unfortunately, this is not at all uncommon. It depends a bit about the underlying reason for CKD. You may lose more than 80% of kidney function before symptoms may become obvious. This is especially true for some slowly progressive disorders such as nephronophthisis, where sometimes the only symptom may be increased thirst and the need to pee at night a couple of times. The changes are very slow and the body may compensate for a long time. It is different if the disease that leads to CKD produces a lot of symptoms, but cases of renal dysplasia, oligomeganephronia, nephronophthisis and other diseases may progress so slowly and silently that some patients present when it is all too late.
Kind regards,
Guido Filler, MD, PhD, FRCPC
His disease found with lab work.
