Kidneys play a vital role in expelling the waste products left behind by various metabolic activities in the body. As a filtering apparatus, the two kidneys continuously filter nitrogenous wastes and other toxins from the blood.
Kidney cyst is an abnormal condition affecting the kidney. It is characterized by formation of fluid or air filled sac in the kidney. There can be a solitary renal cyst or multiple cysts in the kidney, which is termed as polycystic kidney disease. The cysts located in kidney are similar to cysts found in other parts of the body; the surface gives an appearance of bubbles.
Renal cyst is hereditary and can be transmitted by either parent.
Cysts in kidney can deteriorate the normal kidney function. This is because the fluid filled sacs becomes enormously enlarged and occupy the space of the functioning tissue. The situation worsens when the renal cyst continuously keeps on growing. A stage comes when the growing kidney cyst ruptures.
A kidney cyst may rupture when it is more than 4 cm. It can lead to many severe problems, recognizing the symptoms at the early stage helps in treating the condition.
Ruptured Kidney Cyst Symptoms
Pain: Pain is the commonest and most prominent symptom of ruptured kidney cyst.
It can be acute and excruciating or dull and aching pain. The pain is located in the flank, at the back near the renal angle, in upper abdomen and in the pelvic area. Generally the pain starts as the cysts enlarges in size. The cyst compresses the kidney tissue or organs surrounding the Kidney. An infection in the ruptured cyst can also give rise to pain.
Hematuria (blood in urine): Frank blood in urine is an important warning signal of rupture of kidney cyst. In a solitary kidney cyst, blood in urine may not be noticed. They are generally filled with clear fluid. It can be detected on urine analysis. But when the condition is severe and there are multiple cysts, a person can notice red urine.
Sepsis and hemorrhage: They are serious complications of kidney cyst rupture. The condition needs to be treated urgently. Fever, low blood pressure, low pulse rate, failure of organs, low urine outputs etc are some of the critical signs and symptoms manifested in sepsis. Sometimes the condition becomes fatal, for this reason it needs proper urgent medical attention.
Acute renal failure: The urine output is suddenly stopped due to vascular injury and malfunction of the kidney due to blockage.
Treatment For Ruptured Kidney Cyst
It is essential to treat the ruptured kidney cyst at the earliest. If there is a delay in treating the cyst it may become infected. It can cause further damage to the kidney and other organs. Close observation and managing the vital signs such as blood pressure, pulse and heart rate are the primary first aid.
Simultaneously, the doctors may suggest anti bacterial treatment to prevent infection and sepsis. Most of the time, surgery may not be required if there is simple cyst. Patient is treated conservatively. Surgery may be necessary in some cases.
Most of the time home remedies in such cases are not useful as the patient needs to be treated urgently. However there are few preventive measures that a patient can always rely upon when he knows about a cyst in his kidney.
There are some Chinese herbs that can help to shrink the size of kidney cyst. The patient should avoid doing rigorous work that needs lot of physical strain. Avoid injuring abdomen.
Avoid wearing tight pants and belts which may give pressure on the kidney.
