Kidney Kidney The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blood exits into the paired renal veins. Each kidney is attached to a ureter, a tube that carries excreted urine to the bladder. The nephron is the structural and functional unit of the kidney. Each adult kidney contains around 1 million nephrons. The nephron utilizes four processes to alter the blood plasma which flows to it: filtration, reabsorption, secretion, and excretion. The
Vertebral artery dissection cricketer Phillip Hughes died on 27 November 2014 after developing a vertebral artery dissection as a result of being struck on the side of the neck by a cricket ball during a Sheffield Shield match on 25 November 2014. The ball struck Hughes on the base of the skull just behind his left ear which caused a vertebral artery dissection complicated by subarachnoid hemorrhage. Vertebral artery dissection Vertebral artery dissection (VAD) is a flap-like tear of the inner lining of the vertebral artery, which is located in the neck and supplies blood to the brain. After the tear, blood enters