ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an information needed to take care of these patients, will start by reviewing normal renal anatomy, physiology during pregnancy. A study of humans that excluded dilatation of the renal pelvicaliceal system demonstrated that renal volume can increase by 30% in normal pregnancy. Based on the available data, it is unlikely that cystatin C will have any utility in monitoring kidney function in pregnancy but might prove useful in the detection of patients who will develop pre-eclampsia. In late pregnancy, the fractional excretion of uric acid decreases and the plasma levels trend toward nonpregnant levels. Caring for pregnant women with renal disease is usually a difficult task for both the obstetrician and the nephrologist. Blood volume can increase almost 50% in a normal pregnancy, compared with the nonpregnant state. Dilatation of the collecting system seems to be the result of a combined progesterone-induced ureteral smooth muscle relaxation, compression of the ureter by the enlarged uterus and iliac vessels.
