Kidney Failure and RFT Test Guide

Experiencing persistent fatigue, severe swelling in legs and face, decreased urination or urinating less than 400 mL daily, shortness of breath, confusion, chest pain from fluid around heart, or seizures are primary symptoms indicating potential kidney failure requiring urgent Renal Function Tests. Kidney Failure (also called renal failure or End-Stage Renal Disease ESRD — life-threatening condition where kidneys lose 85–90% of filtering capacity, unable to remove waste products, excess fluids, and electrolytes from blood, leading to dangerous toxin accumulation, severe electrolyte imbalances, fluid overload, anaemia, bone disease, and cardiovascular complications requiring renal replacement therapy through dialysis or kidney transplantation to sustain life) affects over 2 million Indians requiring dialysis treatment, making early Renal Function Tests (RFT — comprehensive blood and urine tests measuring creatinine, Blood Urea Nitrogen, eGFR, electrolytes, and urine protein detecting declining kidney function before progression to irreversible failure) essential for timely intervention preventing advancement from chronic kidney disease stages 1–4 to stage 5 kidney failure through aggressive management.

Since 2007, healthcare nt sickcare has provided comprehensive kidney failure testing to over 2,600 families across Pune through NABL-accredited laboratory partnerships, offering complete RFT panels, emergency kidney function assessment, dialysis monitoring tests, and transplant evaluation with convenient home sample collection, affordable transparent pricing, and critical results delivered within 6–24 hours enabling urgent nephrologist consultation. This detailed guide explains what kidney failure is, causes and risk factors, symptoms requiring immediate testing, comprehensive RFT tests detecting kidney failure, treatment options including dialysis and transplantation, and convenient kidney failure testing in Pune covering Aundh, Baner, Kothrud, Wakad, and Hinjewadi protecting your kidney health and preventing life-threatening complications.

What Is Kidney Failure?

Kidney failure occurs when kidneys lose ability to filter waste and maintain fluid-electrolyte balance, requiring dialysis or transplantation.

Kidney failure (renal failure or End-Stage Renal Disease ESRD) develops when kidney function declines to below 10–15% of normal capacity (eGFR below 15 mL/min/1.73m² — Stage 5 Chronic Kidney Disease), meaning kidneys can no longer adequately remove metabolic waste products (urea, creatinine, uric acid), regulate fluid balance (leading to dangerous fluid overload causing pulmonary oedema and heart failure), maintain electrolyte homeostasis (causing life-threatening hyperkalaemia with cardiac arrhythmia risk, metabolic acidosis, and hypocalcaemia), produce erythropoietin (causing severe anaemia), activate vitamin D (leading to bone disease), or regulate blood pressure (worsening hypertension and cardiovascular disease). According to kidney disease foundations, kidney failure is life-threatening without renal replacement therapy (dialysis or transplantation) as toxin accumulation causes uraemia (systemic illness from waste product buildup) with symptoms including confusion, seizures, coma, and death within weeks if untreated. Kidney failure develops through two pathways — Acute Kidney Injury (AKI — sudden kidney function loss over hours to days from causes including severe dehydration, blood loss, medications, sepsis, or urinary obstruction, often reversible with prompt treatment) and Chronic Kidney Disease progression (CKD advancing over months to years from diabetes, hypertension, glomerulonephritis, or polycystic kidney disease, usually irreversible requiring permanent dialysis or transplantation). Understanding comprehensive kidney function testing approaches enables early detection.

Common Causes and Risk Factors for Kidney Failure

Kidney failure results primarily from diabetes, hypertension, glomerulonephritis, polycystic kidney disease, or acute kidney injury.

• Diabetes Mellitus (both type 1 and type 2) is the leading cause of kidney failure accounting for 40–45% of new dialysis patients, as chronic hyperglycaemia damages glomerular capillaries through diabetic nephropathy progressing over 10–20 years from microalbuminuria to proteinuria to declining eGFR ultimately reaching ESRD, preventable through tight glucose control (HbA1c below 7%), blood pressure control (below 130/80 mmHg), ACE inhibitors or ARBs, and early detection through regular albumin-to-creatinine ratio testing.
• Hypertension (high blood pressure) causes 25–30% of kidney failure cases through chronic pressure damage to kidney blood vessels (nephrosclerosis) and glomeruli, both as primary cause and accelerating factor in existing kidney disease, controllable through medications, lifestyle modifications, and sodium restriction.
• Glomerulonephritis (kidney inflammation from autoimmune diseases like lupus, infections, or primary glomerular diseases) accounts for 10–15% of kidney failure through progressive glomerular scarring.
• Polycystic Kidney Disease (inherited condition with multiple kidney cysts gradually replacing normal tissue) causes 5–10% of ESRD.
• Acute Kidney Injury from severe dehydration, blood loss, sepsis, nephrotoxic drugs (NSAIDs, aminoglycosides, contrast dye), or urinary obstruction can cause sudden kidney failure sometimes progressing to chronic failure if severe. Other causes include chronic kidney infections, prolonged urinary obstruction from kidney stones or prostate disease, and systemic diseases. Regular monitoring through kidney health assessment enables prevention. Kidney failure represents a major non-communicable disease burden in India.

Recognizing Symptoms Requiring Urgent Testing

Kidney failure causes multiple symptoms from toxin accumulation, fluid overload, electrolyte imbalances, and hormonal deficiencies.

• Urinary Changes: Decreased urination (oliguria — less than 400 mL daily or anuria — less than 100 mL daily indicating severe failure), foamy urine from proteinuria, blood in urine (haematuria), or dark-coloured urine.
• Fluid Retention: Severe swelling in legs, ankles, feet (peripheral oedema), facial puffiness particularly around eyes, abdominal distension from ascites, and pulmonary oedema causing shortness of breath even at rest or when lying flat (orthopnoea).
• Systemic Symptoms: Extreme fatigue and weakness from anaemia and toxin buildup, persistent nausea and vomiting from uraemia, complete loss of appetite causing weight loss despite fluid retention, metallic taste in mouth and bad breath (uraemic fetor), and persistent itching (pruritus) from phosphate and toxin accumulation.
• Neurological Symptoms: Difficulty concentrating or confusion, personality changes, sleep disturbances, muscle twitches or cramps, peripheral neuropathy (numbness, tingling in hands and feet), and in severe cases seizures or coma from uraemic encephalopathy.
• Cardiovascular Symptoms: Chest pain from pericarditis (fluid around heart), hypertension worsening or becoming difficult to control, and irregular heartbeat from hyperkalaemia.
• Other Signs: Easy bruising or bleeding, bone pain from renal osteodystrophy, growth retardation in children, and sexual dysfunction in adults. These symptoms warrant immediate RFT testing and nephrology consultation preventing life-threatening complications.

Renal Function Tests (RFT) Detecting Kidney Failure

RFT combines blood and urine tests comprehensively assessing kidney filtration capacity, waste removal, and electrolyte balance.

• Essential Blood Tests: Serum Creatinine (significantly elevated often 5–15 mg/dL or higher in kidney failure compared to normal 0.6–1.3 mg/dL), Blood Urea Nitrogen BUN (markedly elevated often 50–150 mg/dL versus normal 7–20 mg/dL), eGFR (below 15 mL/min/1.73m² confirming Stage 5 CKD/kidney failure versus normal above 90), Electrolytes particularly potassium (dangerous hyperkalaemia above 5.5 mEq/L requiring urgent treatment), bicarbonate (low indicating metabolic acidosis), calcium (low) and phosphorus (high causing mineral-bone disorder), Complete Blood Count showing normocytic anaemia from erythropoietin deficiency, and Parathyroid Hormone PTH (elevated secondary to calcium-phosphorus imbalance).
• Urine Tests: Urine protein and albumin (heavy proteinuria above 3 grams daily in nephrotic syndrome), microscopy showing casts and cells, and 24-hour collection assessing residual kidney function.
• Additional Tests: Kidney ultrasound showing small, scarred kidneys in chronic failure or obstruction in acute failure, chest X-ray detecting pulmonary oedema, ECG monitoring for dangerous arrhythmias from hyperkalaemia, and sometimes kidney biopsy determining underlying cause and potential reversibility. At healthcare nt sickcare, our comprehensive RFT panels provide complete kidney failure assessment enabling appropriate treatment planning.

Treatment Options: Dialysis and Kidney Transplantation

Kidney failure requires renal replacement therapy through haemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, or kidney transplantation to sustain life.

• Haemodialysis (most common dialysis method) uses artificial kidney machine filtering blood outside body through semipermeable membrane removing waste products, excess fluid, and correcting electrolytes, typically performed 3 times weekly for 3–4 hours per session at dialysis centre though home haemodialysis is possible, requiring vascular access (arteriovenous fistula created surgically weeks before dialysis initiation, central venous catheter for immediate access).
• Peritoneal Dialysis uses peritoneal membrane lining abdominal cavity as natural filter, with sterile dialysate solution infused into abdomen through permanent catheter, dwelling 4–6 hours absorbing waste and fluid, then drained and replaced with fresh solution, performed at home either manually (Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis CAPD) 4–5 exchanges daily or using machine overnight (Automated Peritoneal Dialysis APD).
• Kidney Transplantation is optimal long-term treatment providing best quality of life and survival, using kidney from deceased donor (cadaveric transplant) or living donor (family member or altruistic donor), requiring immunosuppressive medications lifelong preventing rejection, with transplant survival averaging 10–15 years or longer providing nearly normal kidney function and eliminating dialysis dependency.
• Conservative Management focuses on symptom control without dialysis in elderly patients or those with multiple comorbidities choosing comfort care.

Frequently Asked Questions About Kidney Failure

Take the Next Step with healthcare nt sickcare

Don't let kidney failure progress without monitoring — regular RFT testing enables dialysis optimization, transplant timing, and complication prevention. With over 2 million Indians living with kidney failure requiring lifelong dialysis or transplantation, comprehensive renal function assessment guides critical treatment decisions maximizing survival and quality of life. healthcare nt sickcare offers accurate NABL-accredited RFT testing, emergency kidney failure assessment, dialysis monitoring panels, transparent affordable pricing, convenient home sample collection across Pune, and prioritized results within 6–24 hours enabling urgent medical intervention. As a family-run Pune-based service established since 2007, we prioritise your health through professional testing and compassionate care. Ready to assess kidney failure severity, monitor dialysis adequacy, or prepare for transplant evaluation? Book your Renal Function Test, comprehensive kidney failure package, or dialysis monitoring panel, or contact us at +91 97660 60629 for urgent home sample collection!