What is chronic kidney disease?

➢Term that describes the final common pathway of progressive nephron loss resulting from any type of kidney disease. ➢Classically, the kidneys are symmetrically contracted, and their surfaces are red-brown and diffusely granular when the underlying disorder affects blood vessels or glomeruli. ➢Kidneys damaged by chronic pyelonephritis are typically unevenly involved and have deep scars. ➢This obliteration of the glomeruli is the end point of many diseases, and it is impossible to ascertain from such kidneys the nature of the initial lesion • Microscopically, the feature common to all cases is advanced scarring of the glomeruli, sometimes to the point of complete sclerosis. • Marked interstitial fibrosis, associated with atrophy and dropout of many of the tubules in the cortex, and diminution and loss of portions of the peritubular capillary network. • Lymphocytic (and, rarely, plasma cell) infiltrates are present in the fibrotic interstitial tissue. • There also is The small- and medium-sized arteries frequently are thick-walled, with narrowed lumina, secondary to hypertension