🩺 Before the kidney 🧍 In front of kidney

prerenal

1 9.5

Causing injury to the kidneys by reducing their blood flow

adjective
/ˌpriˈrɛnəl/

Specialized

: prerrenal

Management of prerenal azotemia
prerenal azotaemia

Examples

He was diagnosed with prerenal acute kidney injury due to his low blood pressure.
The doctor explained that dehydration can cause prerenal kidney failure.
Prerenal conditions can lead to reduced blood flow to the kidneys.

Surface Forms

prerenal positive

Morphology

prerenal = renal (semi-transparent) = pre + renal

The prefix 'pre-' and base 'renal' are clear, but the medical sense of a condition occurring 'before the kidney' in the physiological chain is somewhat specialized.

Etymology

Prerenal combines pre- meaning 'before' and renal meaning 'kidney'. So it names causes or changes that happen 'before' the kidney, for example low blood flow that can lead to kidney injury.