Acute Renal Failure

Acute Renal Failure

Acute renal failure is a common complication of critically ill clients. This disease contributes to the already increased morbidity of these clients, increasing the risk of mortality by 2-15 times, depending upon associated factors. Mortality rates are at 4 million per year in the United States. Rapid treatment of these clients significantly increases the chance of survival. Rapid treatment is dependent upon rapid diagnosis. Acute renal failure is a group of syndromes characterized by sudden, usually reversible decrease or total loss of renal function, resulting in decreased urinary output and increased serum urea and creatinine levels, which are typically excreted by the kidneys (Kunzendorf 2010).

Loss of renal function may be a result of a lack of blood flow to the kidneys, damage within the kidney, or problems occurring after the formation of urine, in the ureters or bladder. These 3 sites allow for many possible complications which lead to acute kidney failure (Vann 2011). A lack of blood flow may be caused by hypovolemia, heart attack or heart disease, infection, liver failure, overuse of nephrotoxic medication such as NSAID’s or aspirin, anaphylaxis or burns. Damage within the kidneys may be caused by blood clots or impaired blood flow within the kidney which may be due to cholesterol deposits, scleroderma or vasculitis, glomerulonephritis, hemolytic uremic syndrome, infection or sepsis, certain medication such as chemotherapy drugs, antibiotics or dyes used for imaging studies (Mayo 2012). The most common intrarenal cause is acute tubular necrosis, which is the death of the kidney’s filtration cells due to a lack of oxygen (Vann 2011). Urinary obstruction is the cause of renal failu...

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http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/kidney-failure/DS00280

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http://classes.kumc.edu/cahe/respcared/cybercas/dialysis/portpath.html

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http://www.med.nyu.edu/content?chunkIID=234981

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http://www.austincc.edu/nursmods/rrc/rrc_lev4/rhsg_2432/documents/CNEAcuteKidneyInjury.pdf