Benign Hypertensive Arteriolar Nephrosclerosis

Hypertension is high blood pressure, arterioles are small arteries, "nephro-" refers to kidneys, and "-sclerosis" is scarring or damage.

Benign hypertensive arteriolar nephrosclerosis is kidney damage caused by having high blood pressure for a long period of time.

• Kidney damage usually gets worse slowly and can lead to severe chronic kidney disease

• It's more common when your blood pressure has been high for a long time

• Kidney damage is usually found on a blood test  

• You don't usually have symptoms until you get kidney failure

• Doctors try to control your high blood pressure with medicine

• You may need dialysis (a machine filters your blood when your kidneys aren’t able to do it)

Having high blood pressure for a long time puts stress on your blood vessels. Eventually, the stress damages the blood vessels so blood doesn't flow through them well. If blood flow to an organ is poor, the organ can be damaged.

Your risk of kidney damage from high blood pressure is higher if:

• Your blood pressure isn't controlled very well

• You've had high blood pressure for a long time

You usually don't have any symptoms unless you get kidney failure. Symptoms of kidney failure include:

• Feeling weak and tired

• Feeling sick to your stomach

• Being less hungry than usual

• Itching

• Feeling sleepy or confused

Doctors suspect kidney disease if you've had high blood pressure for a long time and routine blood tests show your kidneys aren't working normally. To check for other causes of kidney disease, they may do:

• Blood and urine tests

• Ultrasound of your kidneys

Doctors try to keep kidney damage from getting worse by:

• Controlling your high blood pressure with medicine and changes to your diet

If your kidneys are badly damaged, you may need:

• Dialysis (a machine filters your blood when your kidneys aren’t able to do it)