2. If
the
young patient has
hypertension, what
affects would this have on cast formation in correlation with the
evidence
provided?
Answer:
Hypertension
affects the ability of the kidneys
to remove the body's wastes from the blood, resulting in less
waste being filtered. The addition of decreased urine flow or
output,
due to the patient's pyelonephritis, allows for the proper conditions
for cast formation. Therefore,
the
presence of white blood cell casts is caused by the patient's acute
pyelonephritis.
Hypertension
also causes a risk of proteinuria. In this case, the stix result
for protein provides further evidence that the young patient definitely
has
proteinuria. Proteinuria can in effect cause granular cast
formation, hence the presence of granular casts in the patient's urine.
Copyright© Mary Ann McLane
Back to Questions