 Hello everyone, I am Dr. Sandeep Mandal, Consultant Nephrologist at Manipal Hospital Kuru Gram. Today I will be talking about kidneys and chronic kidney disease. We have two kidneys which are located in the abdomen on either side. The main function of the kidneys is to remove the toxic substances from our body. It filters out the impurities from the blood and makes urine which is then excreted from the body. It also has certain other functions like maintaining the chemical composition on the body, like maintaining the concentrations of sodium, potassium, acid, base and the water content. It also helps in the synthesis of hemoglobin by producing an hormone known as erythroportin. It is also important for bone health as it activates vitamin D. Kidneys also help in maintaining the blood pressure. So what happens if the kidneys are not functioning properly? There will be accumulation of toxic substances in our body like the levels of urea, creatinine, acid, potassium, they will increase and there will be fluid accumulation also leading to swelling in our body usually starts from the face and feet and then gradually it can involve all over the body. It also causes the hemoglobin levels to decrease leading to anemia. The blood pressure level tends to go up and there will be bone disease also. The main cause of kidney dysfunction can be of two types. It can be either acute which happens all of a sudden or it can be chronic which occurs over a period of many months or years. The main risk factors for chronic kidney disease are diabetes and hypertension. These two disorders are responsible for the majority of cases of chronic kidney disease and there are certain other risk factors for chronic kidney disease as well. These include kidney stones, repeated urinary tract infections and certain hereditary diseases, some immune mediated diseases also or sometimes long-term intake of some medicines like pain killers can also give rise to chronic kidney disease. So patients who have got any risk factors should get their blood and urine examination done at regular intervals if there are any abnormalities in the reports they should consult the nephrologist immediate.