Bean Shaped Kidneys

The kidneys are bean-shaped organs in our bodies vertebrates, they are part of the urinary system. The kidneys are responsible for filtering wastes like urea from the blood system. Once the Kidney has filtered out the waste it excretes them, along with water, as urine.

A Humans kidneys are two organs which can be found in the posterior part of the abdomen. There is one kidney on each side of the spine located just below the liver. Beside each kidney is what is called an adrenal gland which can also be be called a suprarenal gland. Behind the lining of the abdominal cavity is where kidneys located. This corrolates to approximately T12 to L3 at the vertebral level. In orderd to accomodate the left liver, the right kidney usually lies just a bit lower than the left.

A average size kidney in a human adult is approximately 11.5 cm in length and about 4.5 cm depth. It isn't unreasonable for a kidney to weigh up to 160 grams. Kidneys have adopted the name, the "bean-shaped" organ, due to their concave sides facing inwards. On these concave sides to each kidney is an opening, which is called the Hilus. The Hilus admits to the renal artery, the renal vein, nerves, and the ureter.

Because of the Kidney's resonsibility for filtering out waste in the human body there are lots of infections and different diseases that can start to take them over. Some of the common diseases include Kidney Stones, Cancer in the Kidney. And often times these different infections can cause the entire kidney to fail.