End Organ Damage

Original Editor - Lucinda hampton

Top Contributors - Lucinda hampton and Vidya Acharya  

Introduction

An end organ is the last organ affected in a chain of events, for instance a disease process. Examples are the liver, brain, kidney or heart. These organs are ultimately affected by a chronic or progressive disease or condition like diabetes or hypertension causing eg renal failure.

Detection

Timely detection of end organ damage and secondary diseases are the main determining factors of cardiovascular prognosis in patients suffering from arterial hypertension.

Classical pointers for end organ damage include:

• Stroke, vascular and hemorrhagic
• Retinopathy
• Coronary heart disease/myocardial infarction and heart failure
• Proteinuria
• Renal failure
• Atherosclerotic change eg stenoses and aneurysms in the blood vessels.

Risk Factors

Many and varied and include:

1. Arterial hypertensive is a risk factor for end organ damage, and can now be diagnosed early and reversed with specific and aggressive treatment.
2. Obesity is a risk factor for development of target organ damage, due to development of hypertension, and needs adressing early for prevention of such.
3. Type 2 diabetes mellitus is associated with target organ damage

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