The kidney controls many important functions in the body, including the number of red cells that are in the blood. These sufferers require the use of an artificial kidney machine to stay alive. Below, Dr. Jai Radhakrishnan and Dr. Leonard Stern give us a short course on the kidney, and explain why this little organ plays such a big role in good health.
Every person has two kidneys.
They're in the middle of the abdomen in the back, and they're the size of a fist. They drain into two tubes called the ureters, which lead into the bladder. The most obvious function of the kidney is to excrete wastes that we produce from our diet and from our metabolism. The kidney also controls the composition of the body fluids, and produces a number of hormones that deal with body function. It's an unimaginable amount.