Medullary Sponge Kidney: Symptoms, Complications and Treatments

Medullary sponge kidney is also known as renal medullary cystic disease and it is a rare inherited disorder where the tubes in the kidneys that collect urine are wider than normal.
Medullary sponge kidney is usually a benign condition, and patients can remain asymptomatic. In the general population, the frequency of medullary sponge kidney disease is reported to be 0.02% - 0.005%; that is, 1 in 5000 to 1 in 20,000. The frequency of medullary sponge kidney has been reported by various authors to be 12 – 21% in patients with nephrolithiasis.
What are the symptoms of medullary sponge kidneys?
Common symptoms of medullary sponge kidneys include blood in urine, urinary pain, back pain, flank pain, protein in urine, fever, increase of blood uric acid level, etc.
What are the complications of medullary sponge kidneys?
Medullary sponge kidney can cause a series of complications such as renal stones, urinary tract infections, distal renal tubular acidosis and renal insufficiency though it is very rare.
If patients have no obvious symptoms, obtaining periodic urinalysis and abdominal radiographs is recommended, although guidelines for the frequency of radiologic surveillance in asymptomatic adults are unclear.
If patients have recurrent nephrolithiasis, they are recommended to drink plenty of fluids in order to have a daily urinary output in excess of 2L. A 24-hour urine collection for potential kidney stone risk factors (eg, calcium, citrate, uric acid, magnesium, sodium, oxalate, phosphate) can be very helpful in treating the metabolic factors contributing to nephrolithiasis.
If the patients have frequent urinary tract infections, they should receive antibacterial therapy.
Proper diet is also very important for preventing the formation of kidney stones which are very common among medullary sponge kidneys.