Mild Kidney Failure - Nick Cannon Fights

Nick Cannon Hospitalized With Mild Kidney Failure, Mariah Carey recently announced that her husband, "America's Got Talent" host Nick Cannon, is hospitalized in Aspen, Colo., with mild kidney failure. Carey tweeted this morning: "Please pray for Nick as he's fighting to recover from a mild kidney failure. #mybraveman" However, the term "mild kidney failure" doesn't exist in medical terminology; rather, Carey might have meant to say Cannon has a condition called acute kidney injury (also known as acute kidney failure), said Dr. Bryan Becker, the National Kidney Foundation's immediate past president and assistant vice president of health affairs at the University of Illinois, who has no connection to Cannon's case. The kidneys' job is to remove waste and excess fluid via the urine, according to the National Kidney Foundation. The kidneys also regulate levels of salt, potassium and acid in the body, as well as produce hormones that spur the production of red blood cells. (For more information on kidney disease, click over to kidney.org.) Acute kidney injury occurs when the kidneys stop functioning properly, thereby allowing fluids, waste and electrolytes to store up in the body, according to the Mayo Clinic. It can be diagnosed by an elevated level of serum creatinine, a blood measurement. "We would look at acute kidney injury as that acute serum creatinine being twice what it would normally be. ... So as a rough estimate, it's probably between 1 and 1.5 normally. So if it's 2 to 3, then that would be significant injury," Becker said. "And yet, people may not need dialysis, they may just need to be watched and can show improvement on their own -- and that may be what's happening right now. It's just tough to tell." Depending on the case, treatments for acute kidney injury may include treating the underlying issue that caused the kidney condition in the first place (for example, stopping medication if medication is causing the kidney issue, or re-hydrating a person if he or she is dehydrated), Becker said.huffingtonpost.com