Alport syndrome is a rare genetic disease that causes progressive damage to small blood vessels in the renal glomeruli, preventing the organ from properly leaking blood and presenting symptoms such as blood in the urine and an increase in the amount of protein in the blood test..orina.
In addition to affecting the kidneys, this syndrome can also cause hearing or vision problems by preventing the production of a protein important for eye and ear function.
- Alport syndrome has no cure.
- But treatment helps relieve symptoms and even delay the development of the disease.
- Thus preventing kidney function from being affected.
The most common symptoms of Alport syndrome include
In addition, there are also cases where hearing and vision are affected by the disease, leading to hearing and visual impairment.
If no precautions are taken, the disease may progress to chronic kidney failure and require dialysis or kidney transplantation.
Alport syndrome is caused by changes in genes that contain instructions for the production of a protein known as type IV collagen, this type of collagen is part of the glomeruli of the kidney and, therefore, when it is not present, blood vessels in these regions suffer lesions and heal, which impairs kidney function.
Similarly, this collagen is also present in the ears and eyes and, therefore, changes in these organs may also appear over time.
There is no specific test to diagnose Alport syndrome, so your doctor may order several tests, such as a urine test, blood test, or kidney biopsy to identify if there are any changes that may be causing the syndrome.
Treatment of Alport syndrome is done with the aim of relieving symptoms, as there is no specific form of treatment.Therefore, it is very common to use medications for high blood pressure and diuretics, in order to control blood pressure and prevent further kidney damage.
In addition, it is also recommended to maintain a low-salt diet to avoid excessive kidney function, below explains how to maintain such a diet.
Nos casos mais graves, em que o rim está muito afetado e não existe melhora dos sintomas, pode ser necessário iniciar diálise ou fazer transplante de rim.