What is Acute Renal Failure

Acute Renal Failure

Acute renal failure is the inability of your kidneys to function properly. When acute renal failure occurs the kidneys lose the ability to remove waste and the ability to balance fluids and electrolytes.

The functional and structural changes, otherwise known as the pathophysiologic changes, associated with acute renal failure (ARF) involve changes in renal hemodynamics, nephron function and cell metabolism. ARF can lead to symptoms such as the sudden loss of the ability of the kidneys to excrete wastes, concentrate urine, conserve electrolytes, and maintain fluid balance. Interactions of tubular and vascular events result in ARF and the leading cause of ARF is ischemia, which is the restricted supply of blood to tissues. This decline of renal blood flow causes cells of the kidney to die. The three phases of acute renal failure are prerenal, intrarenal and postrenal.

The most common type of ARF is prerenal acute renal failure and accounts for approximately 55% of all ARF cases. Prerenal ARF is caused by a complication of any condition, medication or disease that causes a rapid decrease of blood flow to the kidneys, which in turn causes a loss of kidney function. In prerenal ARF the kidneys are usually fully functional before the reduction of blood flow. Prerenal ARF can be caused by major cardiac or abdominal surgery, severe infection (sepsis), or injury; medicines that interfere with the blood supply to the kidneys, such as ACE inhibitors and NSAIDs; severe dehydration caused by excessive fluid loss; severe burns; pancreatitis and liver diseases that create fluid shifts in the abdomen (Hudson 2003). A timely correction of the underlying problem results in the kidneys returning to full normal funct...

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