What Can Cause Atrophic Kidney

Kidneys are paired organs located on either side of the spine. They are about 10~12 cm in length, 5~6cm in width and 3~4 cm in thickness. Atrophic kidney refers to the one or two kidneys diminish in their sizes. What can cause atrophic kidney? Can it prove Kidney Disease?

Kidneys are responsible for filtering blood and produce urine. In some cases, like long-term high blood sugar, blood pressure or deposited immune complexes in glomeruli and so on, they can lead to narrowing of renal arteries. Therefore, the kidneys can not get sufficient oxgen supply and nutrients leading to renal atrophy. Moreover, renal cysts formation and renal artery occlusion are also the common causes of atrophic kidney.

In addition, nephrons loss also plays an important role in causing atrophic kidney. Nephrons are the structural and functional units of the kidneys. Each kidney contains approximately one million nephrons. Kidney Disease, urinary tract infection or any condition that impacts the nephrons in a negative manner could give rise to renal atrophy.

Another common cause of atrophic kidney is the thinning of renal parenchyma. In some cases, the urinary tract obstruction can cause increased pressure to renal tissues or compression of the intra-renal veins and arteries leading to atrophic kidney.


If the kidneys atrophy, one may experience painful urination, hematuria, frequent and urgent urination and so on, which imply that the normal renal function has been affected. In order to avoid further renal damage, you should go for further exam to make out the underlying cause of atrophic kidney. Imaging exams like CT scan and MRI can help in the diagnosis of renal atrophy. If you have high possibility of renal damage, you should also take urine test, blood test and renal function test to determine the type of the disease. In case of urinary tract infection, medications can help to recover their normal size of the kidneys. However, if the atrophic kidney is due to Renal Failure, you have to receive other treatment to stop the further renal damage so as to avoid dialysis or kidney transplant in the further.