Nephrology

The kidneys are essential organs that work every day to keep your body healthy: filtering toxins, maintaining the blood’s chemical balance, and producing important hormones. Caring for them doesn’t have to be difficult.

At La Colonia Medical Center, our nephrology specialists focus on the study, diagnosis, and treatment of kidney diseases.

Nephrologists manage a wide range of kidney-related conditions, including:

• Chronic kidney diseases: like kidney failure, which may require dialysis or a kidney transplant.
• Electrolyte disorders: such as imbalances in sodium, potassium, and calcium levels in the body.
• High blood pressure (Hypertension): which can be related to kidney problems.
• Glomerulonephritis: inflammation of the glomeruli, the kidney’s filtering units.
• Urinary tract infections: which can affect kidney function.
• Kidney stones: also known as renal calculi.

For your convenience, many specialized kidney tests are performed right at our medical center or diagnostic facility—no external appointments or long waits required.

Common kidney tests include:

• Glomerular filtration rate (GFR): one of the most common blood tests for chronic kidney disease. It shows how well your kidneys are filtering.
• Creatinine blood and urine test: checks creatinine levels, a waste product that your kidneys remove from the blood.
• Urine albumin test: looks for the presence of albumin, a protein that can appear in urine if the kidneys are damaged.
• Imaging tests, such as an ultrasound: provide images of the kidneys, helping doctors see their size and shape and detect any abnormalities.
• Kidney biopsy: involves taking a small sample of kidney tissue to examine under a microscope. It helps determine the cause of kidney disease and how much kidney damage there is.

Our nephrology team at La Colonia is also committed to preventing kidney disease and supporting kidney health in patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.