What Are the Symptoms and Stages of Amyloidosis Kidney Disease

Amyloidosis Kidney Disease mainly occurs among the male between 30~60 years old. From the involvement of kidneys to the appearance of clinical symptoms, Amyloidosis Kidney Disease can be divided into 4 stages:

Preclinical stage: In this stage, the patients do not have clinical symptoms and discomforts, but they can be inspected to have renal injury by renal biopsy. This stage can last for about 5~7years.

Proteinuria stage: Proteinuria is the earliest symptom of Amyloidosis Kidney Disease. Approximately 50% of the patients have proteinuria along with microscopic hematuria and 20% only have hematuria. The amount of protein in urine is closely linked to the severity of the amyloidosis. As the patients are often companied by autonomic neuropathy and also the adrenal gland is involved, they often have orthostatic hypotension.

Nephrotic Syndrome stage: Most of the patients with Amyloidosis Kidney Disease develop Nephrotic Syndrome characterized by massive proteinuria, low protein levels in blood and swelling. Nearly ¾ of them are also complicated with renal vein thrombosis. Once the patients are complicated with Nephrotic Syndrome, the prognosis of Amyloidosis Kidney Disease is poor and their renal function will aggravate at a very fast speed.

Uremia stage: Uremia is mainly caused by massive proteinuria and Nephrotic Syndrome. The patients present the common symptoms of uremia. However, their blood pressure does not elevate at all. The clinical symptoms of the patients with Amyloidosis Kidney Disease are closely related to the location of the amyloid substance. In some cases, the amyloid substances mainly despite around the renal tubule and the patients experience renal tubular and renal interstitial damages. In clinic, they have increased urine output. Some patients have renal sugar urine, renal tubular acidosis and electrolyte disturbance.

Once the patients Amyloidosis Kidney Disease develop Nephrotic Syndrome, it usually takes short time to develop into Uremia about 1~3 years. Therefore, early treatment is very important to improve the prognosis and Amyloidosis Kidney Disease and decrease the chance of developing Uremia.