A

  • Acute kidney injury (AKI): When kidney function suddenly reduces, with elevation of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and plasma creatinine in the blood. This may be a result of infection or other causes.
  • Anaemia: A condition where the blood has a low number or poor quality of red blood cells.

B

  • Bacteriuria: Bacteria in the urine.
  • Blood typing: A procedure used to tell the compatibility of red blood cells between a donor and recipient.
  • Biopsy: A small piece of tissue is removed for testing and examination under a microscope.

C

  • Chronic Kindey Disease: loss of kidney functionover time
  • Clinical Trial: Any research in which people volunteer to test new treatments or interventions to prevent, detect or treat diseases or medical conditions.
  • Comorbidity: The presence of one or more medical conditions that occur with a primary condition – for example, when a person has ESKD and diabetes
  • Compatible: When a donor’s blood type is a good match to the recipient’s blood type.
  • Compatibility: An assessment of whether your body will accept the transplanted kidney
  • Creatinine: A waste product of muscle activity that is removed from the body by the kidneys and expelled in the urine; high levels of creatinine mean reduced kidney function
  • Cross Match: A blood test to measure the compatibility of a blood transfusion, or of a transplant donor and recipient.

D

  • Dialysis: A treatment for kidney failure which removes wastes and water from the blood; a process by which small molecules pass from one fluid where they are in high concentration to another fluid where the concentration is lower, through a porous membrane.
  • Dialyser: The part of a dialysis machine that acts as a filter to remove wastes from the patient’s body
  • Dialysis fluid: A special fluid used in dialysis through which wastes are passed. Also called dialysate or bath.
  • Dialysis modality: A particularly type of dialysis or way it is delivered. There are two types of dialysis; haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis
  • Donor: A person who donates or gives their organ(s), for example, their kidney for transplantation
  • Deceased Donor Transplant: Type of kidney transplant in which a kidney is donated from someone who has died suddenly. Also called non-living donor transplant or cadaveric transplant

E

  • End-stage kidney disease (ESKD): The stage of kidney disease when a person’s kidneys have stopped working and dialysis or transplantation is needed to keep the kidneys working and the patient alive. Also referred to as ‘kidney failure’ or stage 5 chronic kidney disease. “End-stage” refers to the end of kidney function.
  • Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR): An estimation of glomerular filtration rate (GFR). GFR is the best measure of kidney function and helps to determine the stage of kidney disease. It shows how well kidneys are cleaning your blood. The eGFR is estimated by a mathematical calculation using blood tests and other information in order to get an approximate measure of the amount of kidney function present.

F

  • Fistula: A passage or duct, used for providing access to the bloodstream in which a vein and an artery in the arm are joined together so dialysis can take place. Also called arteriovenous fistula.
  • Functioning transplant: A kidney transplant which is working in a patient so that dialysis is not required.

G

  • Glomeruli: Tiny filters in the kidneys that filter waste and toxins out of the blood.
  • Glomerular filtration rate (GFR): The rate used to test how well the kidneys are working. GFR measures how much blood passes through the glomeruli each minute. Loss or damage kidney function leads to a decrease in GFR.
  • Glomerulonephritis (GN): Inflammation of the kidney glomerulus, or filters.  A condition in which the glomeruli/filters are damaged; often referred to as nephritis.
  • Graft: A vein and an artery in the arm are joined with a piece of special tubing. The graft provides access to the bloodstream for dialysis. Also called arterio-venous graft.

H

  • Haematuria: The presence of blood in the urine
  • Haemodialysis: A form of dialysis where blood is cleaned by circulating through an external dialysis machine, and then return into the patient’s body
  • Hypertension: High blood pressure

I

  • Idiopathic: Of unknown origin
  • Incidence: The number of new cases of an illness or injury or people startingtreatment during a given period. For example, there were 2,975 people who started dialysis in Australia in 2018.
  • Intravenous (IV): Administered into a vein or taking place within a vein

J

K

  • Kidney (renal) failure: The stage of kidney disease when the person’s kidneys have stopped working so treatment such as dialysis or a transplant is needed to sustain life. Also referred to as end stage kidney disease.
  • Kidney transplant: A treatment for end stage kidney disease where a kidney is removed from the body of one person (the donor) and put into the body of the person with end stage kidney disease.
  • Kidney replacement therapy (KRT): A term used to describe dialysis therapy and kidney transplant.

L

  • Living kidney donation: Where a living person donates one of their kidneys to be transplanted to another person, usually a family member or close friend.

M

  • Modality: The method of renal replacement therapy. Renal replacement therapy is comprised of the following modalities: haemodialysis (HD), automated peritoneal dialysis (APD), continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD), and kidney transplantation (Tx). Kidney transplantation can be performed with a kidney from a living donor (LD) or from a deceased donor (DD).
  • Mortality: Death(s)

N

  • Nephrologist: Another name for a kidney doctor

O

P

  • Per million population (pmp): The incidence or prevalence per million population (pmp) is the observed incident or prevalent count of a number of cases, divided by the general population in that year and multiplied by one million.
  • Peritoneal Dialysis (PD): A form of treatment for end-stage kidney disease. PD is a type of dialysis that uses the patient’s peritoneal membrane (in their abdomen) to filter waste and excess fluid from the blood. There are two types of PD:
    • Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis (CAPD): A type of PD where dialysis fluid is put into the peritoneal cavity through a tube (catheter) in the patient’s abdomen. The fluid stays in the peritoneal cavity for a few hours, then is drained out. This process is done three or four times during the day. CAPD is a home-based therapy.
    • Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis (APD): A type of PD where dialysis fluid is filtered in and out of the body, similar to CAPD, however occurs overnight whilst the person sleeps.
  • Peritoneum:The thin membrane that encloses the peritoneal cavity and surrounds the abdominal organs.
  • Peritonitis: A condition where the peritoneal membrane lining the abdominal wall is infected/inflamed.
  • Pre-emptive transplantation: When a person receives transplant in order to start dialysis.
  • Prevalence: The totalnumber of cases of an illness or injury in a population at a given time. For example, there were 13,399 people receiving dialysis in Australia at 31st December 2018.
  • Pruritus: Itching, can be a symptom of ESKD.
  • Psychosocial: Term to describe psychological (e.g. attitudes, opinions) and social (e.g. education, occupation) factors.
  • Pyelonephritis: (pie-uh-low-nuh-FRY-tis): a kidney infection.
  • Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD): Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) is a genetic disorder involving the growth of numerous cysts in the kidneys. PKD cysts can slowly replace much of the mass of the kidneys, reducing function and leading to kidney failure.

Q

  • Quality of Life (QOL): A term for the quality or standard of different areas of a person’s life (e.g. health, work, relationships, emotional wellbeing).

R

  • Registry: A registry collected information about individuals, usually focused on a specific diagnosis or condition and its treatments
  • Renal replacement therapy (RRT): A term used to describe dialysis therapy and kidney transplant.
  • Renal: Another word for kidney/related to the kidney.
  • Rejection: Where your immune system attacks your transplanted kidney.

S

T

  • Transplant:

U

  • Urea: A waste product produced by the body, it is usually removed by the kidneys when urine is produced.
  • Ureamia: High levels of waste products and urea and creatinine in the blood that are not able to be removed from the body due to kidney disease

V

  • Vascular Access: The type of method used, or way to get to a person’s blood as part of dialysis.
  • Vascular access catheter: A special tube that is surgically inserted into your neck, near the collarbone or top of your leg to allow access for haemodialysis. Also called a central venous catheter.

W

  • Waitlisting/Waitlisted: Being on the kidney transplantation waitlist, in order wait for and potentially receive a kidney transplant.

X

Y

Z

Taxonomy Not Available.

To know more about other jargons used in Kidney disease please access the Kidney Health Australia’s website link below:
https://kidney.org.au/your-kidneys/know-your-kidneys/your-kidneys-a-z