Gynaecologic Nephrology

Abstract

Renal issues are commonly encountered in females. They can occur both in pregnant and nonpregnant females. Many physiologic changes occur during pregnancy to accommodate the growing fetus. Pregnancy is characterized by changes in blood pressure and expansion of total body volume which results in high glomerular filtration rate. The common renal problems seen in pregnant females are hypertension, proteinuria with or without nephrotic syndrome, acute kidney injury. It is not uncommon to see a pregnant female who may have pre-existing chronic kidney disease. A very few women receiving dialysis become pregnant. Renal transplantation restores the infertility seen in chronic kidney disease. Renal transplant recipients with pregnancy require very close monitoring of immunosuppressive medications to prevent acute rejection due to altered drug absorption and metabolism in pregnancy. Uterine fibroids are commonly encounters in women of reproductive age. Nonpregnant females with uterine fibroids usually experience non-renal symptoms like excessive uterine bleeding but few of them can develop hypertension, acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease from uterine fibroids. Malignancies of female genital system can give rise to kidney failure when locally invasive. This review paper gives details of various renal problems seen by nephrologists in female patients both during pregnancy and nonpregnant states in daily practice.