Kidney Failure Overview
What the kidneys do, why they fail, how kidney failure shows itself across the Arab world, and why a transplant is the best treatment when it is possible.
Key Points
- Each person has two kidneys, but one healthy kidney is enough to live a normal life — which is why living donation is safe for the donor.
- The two biggest causes of kidney failure are diabetes and high blood pressure; together they account for most cases.
- Inherited kidney diseases — such as polycystic kidney disease and Alport syndrome — are more common in families where cousins marry cousins, which is a real factor across the Arab world.
- Kidney failure is largely silent until the function falls below about fifteen percent, which is why diagnosis is often late.
- Rates of kidney failure have been rising across the Arab world — from Egypt and the Levant to the Gulf — driven by very high rates of diabetes and high blood pressure.
- Transplantation gives longer life and a better quality of life than long-term dialysis for almost everyone who is a suitable candidate.
- Avoid anti-inflammatory painkillers such as Brufen, Voltaren, and Cataflam — they hurt the kidneys, and this is one of the few rules that matters at every stage.
Clinical review
Reviewed by Dr Osama Ashry Gheith, Consultant Transplant Nephrologist. Kuwait Center for Nephrology and Kidney Transplantation (KCNKT). Mansoura Urology and Nephrology Center, Egypt. Reviewed 1 August 2026.
About the Transplant Patient Portal
This chapter is part of ASNRT's bilingual (Arabic / English) transplant patient-education portal — 14 clinical chapters covering kidney transplantation from preparation through long-term follow-up, plus decision-aid tools for Ramadan fasting, drug-food interactions, and red-flag symptom triage.
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