How is kidney disease treated?

Careful control of diseases like diabetes and conditions like high blood pressure can help prevent kidney disease or keep it from getting worse. Unfortunately, the exact causes of some kidney diseases are still unknown, and treatments are not yet available for them. Research is being done to find treatments for all the conditions that can cause kidney disease.

If chronic kidney disease keeps getting worse, it also can lead to kidney failure. This means your kidneys no longer work well enough to keep you alive, and you need a treatment like dialysis or a kidney transplant. Overall, kidney transplantation is the recommended treatment option for most people with kidney failure. However, people on dialysis can also have full and happy lives.