Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) is a genetic disease. It is passed to
children by gene through two forms: Autosomal Dominate PKD (ADPKD) and Autosomal
Recessive PKD (ARPKD).
Autosomal Dominate PKD (ADPKD) is more common than Autosomal Recessive PKD
(ARPKD). It is passed down to children with 50% of chance of inheriting to both
boys and girls from an affected mother or father. However, if both father and
mother are affected by PKD, the genetic rate will go up to 75%. The children get
the disease by receiving one copy of a dominant gene of PKD from a parent.
Generally, the persons with ADPKD usually do not have symptoms until reaching
between 30~40 years old. Therefore, if a person has a family history of PKD,
they should do check regularly so as to find the disease and receive treatment
in the first time. Moreover, the main symptoms of PKD include high blood
pressure, blood in urine and back pain. If someone with a family history of PKD
has the mentioned symptoms, they should find out whether they are caused by
PKD.
Autosomal Recessive PKD is a rare disease, which is mainly found in infants
and sometimes even before birth. Only if both parents of carriers of ARPKD gene,
it will be passed down to their children with 25% of chance. “Recessive” means
that the parents only carry the gene of PKD, but the disease does not break out
in their whole life. If a baby is affected by ARPKD, he usually dies within
several days and even several hours after birth. Only in rare cases, he can grow
up to teenager.
However, there are still some patients without a family history of PKD, but
have a gene that mutated causing the disease.
As a genetic disease, there is no cure for PKD at present. Therefore, about
half of patients will develop into End Stage Renal Failure. it is very important
for patients to receive effective treatment as early as possible so as to
prevent their disease progression in time.