Polycystic kidney disease, also referred to as PKD, is a disease that is inherited and is characterized by numerous fluid filled cysts growing in the kidneys. These cysts of polycystic kidney disease can gradually replace most of the kidneys’ mass, thus inhibiting kidney function, eventually resulting in kidney failure.

When the kidneys fail due to polycystic kidney disease, which usually occurs only after several years, the affected person will need dialysis or transplantation of the affected kidney. Around half of the people afflicted with the primary form of polycystic kidney disease develop kidney failure, otherwise known as end-stage renal disease, or ESRD. Polycystic kidney disease can also affect the liver by forming cysts in the organ and also have an adverse impact on other organs like the blood vessels in the brain and the heart. In fact, these complications are what often assist doctors identify PKD, differentiating it from the simple and harmless cysts that form quite often with advancing age. These kidney cysts caused by PKD can also get infected and may be painful. Read the rest of this entry »