Urological conditions are connected with your kidneys. They are one of the vital organs in your body that is needed for healthy survival. Any serious malfunction of the kidneys can put your life at risk. So, Urological conditions like ureteric strictures and cancer greatly strain your overall health and immunity even if they affect different parts of your body. The same applies to urological conditions as well. Ureteric strictures and chronic kidney disease also affect each other in various ways. So, let’s take a closer look at different underlying medical conditions and how ureteric strictures can affect them.

Ureteric Strictures And Underlying Conditions

Chronic Kidney Disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a condition that occurs over a long time, which is why it is called a chronic disease and it affects your kidney’s ability to filter blood properly. This condition has adverse effects on different parts of your health and needs to be dealt with at the earliest. If left untreated, this condition leads to the accumulation of waste inside the body and increases your risk of contracting cardiovascular diseases. In terms of its connection with ureteric strictures, CKD aided by ureteric strictures can progress faster. Several factors help this progression, so let’s look at them all.

• Hydronephrosis: Urine obstruction is the number one problem related to ureteric strictures. The stagnant urine in your kidneys and its backflow can cause hydronephrosis a condition where your body retains too much fluid, and it causes inflammation in your kidneys. The increased pressure on your kidneys negatively affects its delicate tissues, which can help progress the already present CKD. Eventually, it leads to the kidneys not being able to function normally anymore and leads to the conditions worsening each other.
   
• Ischemia & Fibrosis: Ischemia is a condition that occurs due to continuous urine obstruction due to strictures. Ischemia causes a lack of blood flow to the kidneys, which stops the normal functioning of the kidney at an accelerated rate. This plays into the progression of CKD and its other symptoms. And that’s not where it ends. Ischemia also leads to fibrosis, a condition where additional scar tissues are formed in the kidneys. This condition impairs the kidney’s ability to function normally further, leading towards total kidney failure, which can be fatal.
   
• Urinary Stasis: Urinary stasis refers to the spaces in the urinary tract where urine pools or flows slowly. Due to the stagnancy, the urine, which is filled with waste finds the perfect environment for the growth of bacteria. This growth of bacteria leads to urinary tract infections. The infections play into the progression of CKD in the patient. If the strictures are not treated, it leads to recurrent and chronic UTIs, which cause inflammation in the kidneys and affect their ability to function normally damaging them.
   
• Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR): GFR refers to the rate at which your kidneys filter toxins and waste from your blood. Ureteric strictures lower this rate, which affects your overall health. A lower GFR puts your heart under pressure to supply more blood to your kidneys. It also causes inflammation in your limbs. And lastly, it helps the progression of your CKD, leading your kidneys towards other conditions like ischemia and fibrosis as mentioned previously.

Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes is not directly connected to your urological system. However, it can still affect your chances of getting strictures, or it can also make dealing with strictures harder. Diabetes is a complex illness, and it affects every part of your body directly or indirectly. So, what are the different ways ureteric strictures and diabetes mellitus are connected? Let’s find out. Also, it is important to note that diabetes mellitus has two types, but for this section, we are focusing only on type-2 diabetes and how it affects the risks and recovery of ureteric strictures.

• Increased UTI Risk: Diabetes that is uncontrolled or left untreated increases your risk of getting urinary tract infections. UTIs as you know are a major risk factor for ureteric strictures, and that’s not all. Because of diabetes, the UTIs will be recurrent and harder to treat. This skyrockets your chances of getting strictures because recurrent UTIs are more likely to scar your ureters and create structures over time. And unless the diabetes is controlled, the UTIs and strictures can become recurrent, affecting the immunity and health of your entire body.
   
• Diabetic Nephropathy: Diabetic nephropathy is a condition of the kidneys caused directly by diabetes. It causes inflammation in your kidneys and can cause other conditions like glomerulosclerosis and tubulointerstitial fibrosis. These conditions affect the functioning of your kidney and affect your urinary tract significantly. That can lead to scarring in the urinary tract giving rise to strictures. Diabetic nephropathy is a serious condition that needs immediate medical attention to ensure it doesn’t lead to total kidney failure.
   
• Delayed Healing & Complications: Diabetes affects your body’s ability to recover from illnesses or surgical procedures. If a person with diabetes goes through any surgery in the pelvic region, it can significantly increase their risk of ureteric strictures. Why? Because diabetes causes recovery and healing to take longer even with minimally invasive surgeries. And in some cases, patients with uncontrolled diabetes are even rejected for surgery because it can lead to various post-operative complications. Even in patients with controlled diabetes, the risk of postoperative complications stays.

Hypertension

Hypertension is not directly caused by ureteric strictures; neither is hypertension the cause of ureteric strictures. However, the conditions are still connected, just not on a causal basis. Ureteric strictures have negative effects on your blood pressure, and if left untreated, over time it could lead to high blood pressure or hypertension. While it is not a primary cause for the condition, it is an indirect effect that can be a cause for it. Let’s look at the other ways ureteric strictures and hypertension are connected.

• Renal Hypertension: Renal hypertension is the most direct connection between the two conditions. Due to the blockage of urine in your urinary tract, the backflow of urine in your kidneys disrupts its normal functioning. To account for that, your heart has to work harder to send additional blood supply to your kidneys in order to keep the organ running smoothly. However, due to the blockage, the additional blood supply is not able to bring the organ back to full efficiency which leads to other renal conditions. And the stress that is put on your heart can cause higher blood pressure and hypertension over time. This condition is known as renal hypertension.
   
• Secondary Hypertension: Following up from renal hypertension. Even if the strictures don’t cause hypertension by themselves, they can increase your risk for other urological conditions like urethral strictures, chronic kidney disease, and urinary tract infections. When you get additional conditions caused by the strictures, it will trigger even more pressure on your heart to supply more blood to your kidneys. And that condition is known as secondary hypertension when other medical conditions trigger hypertension.
   
• Renal Ischemia: As you have already noted, ureteric strictures put pressure on your heart as it is now needed to supply more blood to your kidneys to help them function normally. However, unless the strictures are cleared, it doesn’t work out. In fact, if the strictures are left untreated, it can lead to a condition known as renal ischemia, which actually slowly reduces the kidney’s blood supply. With a lower blood supply, certain hormones are released that can cause the blood pressure to shoot up causing hypertension. And in your kidneys, the lower blood supply can lead to kidney failure, which can be fatal if not treated promptly.

Autoimmune Conditions

Autoimmune conditions target the immune system at large and start fighting against it. Ureteric strictures are not a cause for that, and in fact, autoimmune conditions are mostly caused due to genetic or environmental reasons, so these conditions don’t share a causal relationship. However, ureteric strictures and autoimmune conditions do share a connection in the way that autoimmune conditions increase the risk of getting ureteric strictures. How? Let’s find out.

• Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE): SLE is an autoimmune condition that leads to inflammation and damage in different body parts of the body including the kidneys. Lupus nephritis is a condition that can lead to inflammation and damage to the delicate tissues of the kidneys. In case, if this condition is left untreated, the inflammation can spread to your ureters, which can lead to scarring there and strictures in the future.
   
• Sjögren's Syndrome: It is an autoimmune condition that leads to dryness in the moisture producing parts of your body i.e. your mouth and eyes. In some cases, the condition can spread to your urinary tract and cause inflammation and damage there, which can then lead to the formation of ureteric strictures.
   
• IgG4-Related Disease: This condition is a rare autoimmune condition that leads to the formation of fibrous tissues and chronic inflammation in different parts of the body. If this condition affects your urinary tract, (which it can), it can lead to ureteric strictures that are difficult to get rid of and harder to treat.

Cancer

Cancer is one of the most serious illnesses known to human beings at the moment. It is a difficult illness to treat and can in some cases be fatal. For men, cancer in prostate cancer is a serious threat that can affect any person over a certain age group. And the initial symptoms of prostate cancer seem a lot similar to ureteric strictures as well. So, does cancer increase your risk of getting ureteric strictures? Yes, let’s find out how.

• Radiation Therapy: Radiation therapy is commonly used as a treatment for cancer and in rare cases, the radiation therapy can scar the ureter and cause ureteric strictures in the future. The strictures can appear years after you have gone through radiation therapy, so there is no easy way to detect the risk. Plus, this condition is quite rare, so it makes it even more difficult for doctors to know if you will be at risk for strictures or not.
   
• Tumour Compression: For patients with pelvic, ureteral, or bladder cancer, the risk of the tumors compressing the ureter runs high. In such cases, the tumors can even invade the ureters and create obstructions like strictures. These cancers can directly affect the ureters, making it a risk factor for ureteric strictures directly or indirectly.
   
• Metastasis: Metastasis is a condition where cancer has spread far and wide beyond its original site. Under these circumstances, the cancer can spread onto the ureters, which can lead to stricture-like obstructions in them. Generally, it leads to the growth of tumors in and around the ureters, which cause compression and lead to the growth of ureteric strictures.

Conclusion

Ureteric strictures can become a risk factor when you have certain underlying medical conditions, it can also make the ureteric strictures treatment slow. So, if you have medical conditions that require immediate treatment, always try and get an opinion regarding the other unaffected systems of your body too. This will help you confine the illness to one system at least and help you keep your body running healthily. For such holistic medical care, you need the help of an expert institution that focuses on your overall health, and for that, you must visit MASSH. At MASSH we specialise in holistic medical care that focuses on easy and quick recovery of our patients. We specialize in minimally invasive surgical procedures that can help you treat any urological or other health problems. For more information about our treatment processes and recovery time, check out our website or visit us today.