&intro_text=Hello. I'm your web doc. I will help guide you through a variety of medical information animations. 

These animations provide insight and clarification of many different medical procedures, diagnosis, or anatomy.

&title=Kidney Function and Renal Transplantaion

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&frame1text=Welcome to our introduction to the basic function of the kidney and the process of renal transplantation.

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&frame2text=The kidneys are fist-sized organs that filter waste products from the blood, control the levels of water and salt in the blood, help regulate blood pressure, and produce certain essential hormones and enzymes.

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&frame3text=After blood has been filterd within the kidneys, urine is transfered through ureters, into the bladder.

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&frame4text=Blood enters the kidneys through the renal arteries. In the kidneys, the blood is filtered as it supplies the oxygen and nutrients that the organ needs.

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&frame5text=Oxygen-depleted blood that has been filtered of waste products and excess water leaves the kidneys through the renal veins (the light gray structures).

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&frame6text=Pulling excess water, salts, and waste products from the blood produces urine.  The urine leaves the kidneys via the ureters, tubes that lead down to the bladder.

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&frame7text=The bladder is a round, hollow muscle that receives and stores the urine created by the kidneys before it is expelled. 

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&frame8text=The kidneys filter approximately 180 liters of fluid a day and produce (depending on fluid intake) 1 to 2 liters of urine.  The process is essential to the normal functioning of the body.

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&frame9text=Many conditions, including blocked urine flow, decreased blood volume, hypertension, and diabetes, can cause the kidneys to malfunction and allow waste products to build up in the blood.

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&frame10text=Under certain conditions, the kidneys can stop working completely.  Kidney failure, which can be either sudden or gradual, can be fatal or cause muscle and nerve damage if left untreated. 

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&frame11text=The final stage of kidney failure leaves shrunken, scarred kidneys that no longer function.  Ongoing dialysis (alternative means of blood filtering) and kidney transplant are the only viable treatments. 

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&frame12text=If a transplant is necessary, physicians must find a donor in good health with tissue that closely matches the recipient's to decrease the risk of rejection.  An organ from a recently deceased donor also can be used. 

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&frame13text=Close family members usually have the closest tissue match.  A healthy person can live normally with just one kidney, and the removal procedure now is much safer than it once was.

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&frame14text=The new kidney may be implanted on either side of the abdomen.  Blood vessels are attached to the vessels of the leg, and a section of ureter is attached to the bladder.

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&frame15text=Each year, 11,000 kidney transplants are conducted; success rates are good and getting better.  Close to 90 percent of transplant recipients have a functioning kidney one year later.