Module 3: Toxicology - Section 14: Renal-urinary tract and the kidney
TOX14.1: Overview

GENERAL OBJECTIVES

By the end of this module you should

  1. have an overview of the ways in which the renal-urinary tract can be damaged by occupational toxins;
  2. be able to associate specific classes of toxins with specific effects, with an example of each class;
  3. have an approach to medical surveillance for urinary-renal hazards.
The depth of the material is at the basic level.

ACTIVITIES:

  1. Background: Revise your understanding of the anatomy of the renal-urinary tract.
  2. The notes cover acute effects, chronic effects and cancer. Revise these notes.

EXERCISES:

There are no exercises for this section.

REFERENCES:

The anatomy, physiology and toxicology of the renal-urinary tract are somewhat complicated, and unless you have a strong medical interest you may find this heavy going.

  1. La Dou J, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 2nd Edn. 1997. Renal toxicology, pp. 355-365. (This is a useful summary and I have used its structure for the notes for this session, apart from cancer).
  2. Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety: Renal-urinary cancers.
  3. Ehrlich RI, Robins T, et al. Lead absorption and renal dysfunction in a South African battery factory. Occup Environ Med 1998;55:453-460. (See Notes on a South African study).
  4. Levin and Goldberg. Clinical evaluation and management of lead exposed construction workers



Creative Commons License
Postgraduate Diploma in Occupational Health (DOH) - Modules 3: Occupational Medicine & Toxicology (Basic) by Profs Mohamed Jeebhay and Rodney Ehrlich, Health Sciences UCT is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 South Africa License. Major contributors: Mohamed Jeebhay, Rodney Ehrlich, Jonny Myers, Leslie London, Sophie Kisting, Gail Todd, Neil White. Source available from here. For any updates to the material, or more permissions beyond the scope of this license, please email healthoer@uct.ac.za or visit www.healthedu.uct.ac.za. Last updated Jan 2007.
Disclaimer note: Some resources and descriptions may be out-dated. For suggested updates and feedback, please contact healthoer@uct.ac.za.