Nephrology & Urology Abbreviations
71 abbreviations · part of Medical Abbreviations
Abbreviations for kidney disease, dialysis, kidney function tests, urinary tract conditions, prostate and bladder disorders, and urologic procedures, as they appear in nephrology notes, dialysis unit records, urology reports and discharge summaries. Kidney terminology has shifted in recent years, for example from ARF to AKI and from ESRD to kidney failure (ESKD), and KDIGO guidelines define most staging systems. Some short forms, such as PD, RP and UC, mean different things in other specialties, so entries explain how to tell them apart.
| Abbreviation | Stands for | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ADPKD | Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease | Most common inherited kidney disease, caused by mutations in PKD1 or PKD2, affecting about 1 in 400 to 1,000 people. |
| AIN | Acute interstitial nephritis | Inflammation of the kidney's interstitium and tubules, most often an allergic reaction to drugs such as proton pump inhibitors, NSAIDs, beta-lactam antibiotics and… |
| AKI | Acute kidney injury | Abrupt fall in kidney function over hours to days, defined by KDIGO as a creatinine rise of at least 0.3 mg/dL within 48 hours, a 1.5-fold rise within seven days, or… |
| APD | Automated peritoneal dialysis | Peritoneal dialysis performed by a machine called a cycler, which makes several exchanges overnight while the patient sleeps, sometimes with a daytime dwell. |
| ARF | Acute renal failure | Older term for a rapid loss of kidney function, now replaced in guidelines by acute kidney injury (AKI). |
| ASB | Asymptomatic bacteriuria | Significant bacteria in a properly collected urine sample from someone without urinary symptoms. |
| ATN | Acute tubular necrosis | The most common cause of intrinsic acute kidney injury in hospitals, in which tubular cells are damaged by prolonged low blood flow (ischemia) or toxins such as… |
| AVF | Arteriovenous fistula | Surgical connection between an artery and a vein, usually in the arm, which enlarges over weeks to provide durable access for hemodialysis needles. |
| AVG | Arteriovenous graft | Dialysis access in which a synthetic tube, usually PTFE, is surgically placed under the skin to connect an artery and a vein. |
| BOO | Bladder outlet obstruction | Blockage to urine flow at the bladder neck or urethra, most commonly from benign prostatic enlargement in men, and from urethral stricture, pelvic prolapse or prior… |
| BPH | Benign prostatic hyperplasia | Noncancerous enlargement of the prostate gland that commonly develops with age and can compress the urethra, causing weak stream, frequency, nighttime urination and… |
| CAPD | Continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis | Manual form of peritoneal dialysis in which patients perform about four exchanges a day, each with a dwell of several hours, without a machine. |
| CIC | Clean intermittent catheterization | Regular emptying of the bladder by inserting a clean catheter through the urethra several times a day and removing it immediately. |
| CKD | Chronic kidney disease | Kidney damage or reduced function lasting more than three months, defined by an eGFR below 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 or markers such as albuminuria. |
| CKD-MBD | Chronic kidney disease-mineral and bone disorder | Systemic disorder of mineral metabolism in CKD that combines abnormal calcium, phosphate, PTH and vitamin D levels with bone disease and calcification of blood vessels. |
| CRRT | Continuous renal replacement therapy | Slow, round-the-clock dialysis used in intensive care units for patients with acute kidney injury who are too unstable for intermittent hemodialysis. |
| CVVH | Continuous venovenous hemofiltration | Mode of continuous renal replacement therapy that removes solutes by convection: plasma water is pushed across the filter membrane and replaced with sterile replacement… |
| CVVHDF | Continuous venovenous hemodiafiltration | CRRT mode that combines convection with replacement fluid and diffusion with dialysate, clearing both small and middle-sized molecules. |
| DKD | Diabetic kidney disease | Kidney damage caused by diabetes, typically progressing from increased albumin in the urine to declining filtration and, in some patients, kidney failure. |
| DRE | Digital rectal exam | Physical examination in which a gloved, lubricated finger is inserted into the rectum to feel the prostate, rectal wall and anal canal. |
| ED | Erectile dysfunction | Persistent inability to achieve or maintain an erection sufficient for satisfactory sexual activity. |
| ESKD | End-stage kidney disease | Newer synonym for ESRD that replaces "renal" with "kidney", in line with patient-centered language. |
| ESRD | End-stage renal disease | Long-standing US term for kidney failure that requires dialysis or a transplant to sustain life, usually corresponding to CKD stage 5. |
| ESWL | Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy | Noninvasive kidney stone treatment that focuses shock waves generated outside the body onto a stone to break it into fragments small enough to pass in the urine. |
| FENa | Fractional excretion of sodium | Calculation comparing how much filtered sodium appears in the urine, used to separate prerenal acute kidney injury from tubular damage. |
| FSGS | Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis | Kidney biopsy pattern in which scarring affects some glomeruli (focal) and only part of each affected glomerulus (segmental). |
| GN | Glomerulonephritis | Group of diseases that inflame the glomeruli, the kidney's filtering units, causing blood and protein in the urine, high blood pressure and declining function. |
| GU | Genitourinary | Relating to the urinary organs and the genital organs together, used for review-of-systems headings, exam findings, specialty names and clinic labels. "GU review of… |
| HD | Hemodialysis | Treatment that filters blood through an external dialyzer to remove waste and fluid when the kidneys fail. |
| HoLEP | Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate | Surgery for benign prostatic enlargement that uses a holmium laser to shell out the obstructing prostate lobes, which are then morcellated and removed through the… |
| HUS | Hemolytic uremic syndrome | Thrombotic microangiopathy defined by hemolytic anemia with fragmented red cells, low platelets and acute kidney injury. |
| IC | Interstitial cystitis | Chronic bladder pain condition, often called IC/BPS (bladder pain syndrome), with pelvic pain, pressure, urgency and frequency lasting more than six weeks without… |
| IgAN | IgA nephropathy | The most common primary glomerulonephritis worldwide, caused by deposits of abnormal IgA immune complexes in the glomeruli. |
| KDIGO | Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes | International nonprofit organization that writes the main clinical practice guidelines in nephrology, covering AKI, CKD, glomerular diseases, transplantation, anemia… |
| Kt/V | Dialysis adequacy index (urea clearance times time over volume) | Dimensionless measure of how much urea a dialysis treatment removes: K is dialyzer urea clearance, t is treatment time, and V is the patient's volume of distribution of… |
| LUTS | Lower urinary tract symptoms | Umbrella term for urinary symptoms divided into storage symptoms (frequency, urgency, nocturia) and voiding symptoms (weak stream, hesitancy, straining, incomplete… |
| MCD | Minimal change disease | The leading cause of nephrotic syndrome in children, named because glomeruli look normal under light microscopy while electron microscopy shows effacement of podocyte… |
| NS | Nephrotic syndrome | Kidney syndrome defined by heavy proteinuria of more than 3.5 g per day in adults, low serum albumin and edema, usually with high cholesterol. |
| OAB | Overactive bladder | Symptom syndrome of urinary urgency, usually with frequency and nighttime urination, with or without urge incontinence, in the absence of infection or other obvious… |
| PCa | Prostate cancer | Cancer of the prostate gland, the most common cancer in American men apart from skin cancer, diagnosed in roughly one in eight men during their lifetime. |
| PCN | Percutaneous nephrostomy | Tube placed through the skin of the flank directly into the kidney's collecting system, usually by interventional radiology under ultrasound or fluoroscopic guidance. |
| PCNL | Percutaneous nephrolithotomy | Minimally invasive surgery for large kidney stones in which a tract is created through the back into the kidney and the stone is fragmented and removed with a… |
| PD | Peritoneal dialysis | Home dialysis method that uses the lining of the abdomen (peritoneum) as the filter: sterile dialysate is run into the abdomen through a catheter, left to absorb wastes… |
| PE | Premature ejaculation | Ejaculation that occurs sooner than desired, consistently and with distress, among the most common male sexual complaints. |
| PKD | Polycystic kidney disease | Inherited disorder in which fluid-filled cysts gradually enlarge both kidneys, raising blood pressure and eventually causing kidney failure. |
| PUL | Prostatic urethral lift | Minimally invasive BPH treatment in which small implants are placed through a cystoscope to hold enlarged prostate lobes apart, opening the urethra without cutting or… |
| PVR | Post-void residual | Volume of urine left in the bladder immediately after voiding, measured with a portable bladder scanner or by catheterization. |
| RALP | Robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy | Radical prostatectomy performed with a surgical robot through small abdominal incisions, now the most common approach for prostate cancer surgery in the US. |
| RAS | Renal artery stenosis | Narrowing of one or both renal arteries, causing renovascular hypertension and sometimes ischemic kidney damage. |
| RCC | Renal cell carcinoma | The main type of kidney cancer in adults, arising from the lining of the kidney tubules. |
| RP | Radical prostatectomy | Surgical removal of the entire prostate and seminal vesicles, with or without pelvic lymph nodes, to treat localized prostate cancer. |
| RRT | Renal replacement therapy | Any treatment that replaces kidney function: hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, continuous therapies in intensive care, and kidney transplantation. |
| RTA | Renal tubular acidosis | Group of disorders in which the kidney tubules fail to excrete acid or reclaim bicarbonate, producing a normal anion gap metabolic acidosis. |
| SLED | Sustained low-efficiency dialysis | Hybrid kidney replacement therapy that runs a standard hemodialysis machine at lower blood and dialysate flows for about 6–12 hours, often overnight. |
| SPC | Suprapubic catheter | Urinary catheter inserted through the lower abdominal wall directly into the bladder, used for long-term drainage when a urethral catheter is unsuitable. |
| SUI | Stress urinary incontinence | Involuntary leakage of urine with effort or exertion, such as coughing, sneezing, laughing or lifting, caused by weak urethral support or sphincter function. |
| TCC | Transitional cell carcinoma | Older name for urothelial carcinoma, the cancer that arises from the transitional epithelium lining the bladder and upper urinary tract. |
| TDC | Tunneled dialysis catheter | Cuffed central venous catheter, usually placed in the internal jugular vein and tunneled under the skin of the chest, that provides immediate access for hemodialysis. |
| TRUS | Transrectal ultrasound | Ultrasound performed with a probe inserted into the rectum to image the prostate, measure its volume and guide needle biopsies. |
| TURBT | Transurethral resection of bladder tumor | Cystoscopic surgery that removes bladder tumors through the urethra, providing both treatment and the tissue needed for diagnosis and staging. |
| TURP | Transurethral resection of the prostate | Surgery for benign prostatic hyperplasia in which an instrument passed through the urethra removes obstructing prostate tissue with an electrical loop. |
| UC | Urothelial carcinoma | Cancer arising from the urothelium, the lining of the bladder, ureters, renal pelvis and urethra; it accounts for about 90 percent of bladder cancers in the US. |
| UDS | Urodynamic study | Set of tests measuring bladder storage and emptying, including uroflowmetry, filling cystometry and pressure-flow studies with catheters in the bladder and rectum. |
| UPCR | Urine protein-to-creatinine ratio | Spot urine test that estimates daily protein loss: a ratio in mg/mg (or g/g) roughly equals grams of protein excreted per day. |
| UPJ | Ureteropelvic junction | Junction where the renal pelvis narrows into the ureter, a common site of congenital obstruction and of kidney stone impaction. |
| URR | Urea reduction ratio | Percentage fall in blood urea nitrogen during a single hemodialysis session, calculated from pre- and post-treatment samples. |
| URS | Ureteroscopy | Endoscopic procedure in which a small scope is passed through the urethra and bladder into the ureter and kidney to find and treat stones, usually by laser lithotripsy… |
| UTI | Urinary tract infection | Bacterial infection anywhere in the urinary tract, most often the bladder (cystitis) and less often the kidney (pyelonephritis). |
| UUI | Urgency urinary incontinence | Leakage of urine accompanied or immediately preceded by a sudden, strong need to urinate, caused by involuntary bladder contractions. |
| UVJ | Ureterovesical junction | Point where the ureter enters the bladder wall; it is the narrowest part of the ureter and the most common place for kidney stones to lodge. |
| VUR | Vesicoureteral reflux | Backward flow of urine from the bladder into the ureters and sometimes the kidneys, usually from a congenital defect at the ureterovesical junction. |
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