Acute renal failure.

INTRODUCTION

Acute renal failure is characterised by abrupt and sustained decline in glomerular filtration rate, which leads to accumulation of urea and other chemicals in the blood. The term acute kidney injury has been recently introduced to encompass a wide spectrum of acute alterations in kidney function from very mild to severe. Acute renal failure/acute kidney injury is classified according to the RIFLE criteria where a change from baseline serum creatinine or urine output determines the level of renal dysfunction.

METHODS AND OUTCOMES

We conducted a systematic review and aimed to answer the following clinical questions: What are the effects of interventions to prevent acute renal failure in people at high risk? What are the effects of treatments for critically ill people with acute renal failure? We searched: Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library, and other important databases up to April 2007 (BMJ Clinical Evidence reviews are updated periodically, please check our website for the most up-to-date version of this review). We included harms alerts from relevant organisations such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

RESULTS

We found 77 systematic reviews, RCTs, or observational studies that met our inclusion criteria. We performed a GRADE evaluation of the quality of evidence for interventions.

CONCLUSIONS

In this systematic review we present information relating to the effectiveness and safety of the following interventions: albumin supplementation plus loop diuretics (intravenous), aminoglycosides, aminophylline, amphotericin B, calcium channel blockers, contrast media, dialysis membranes, dopamine, fenoldopam, loop diuretics, mannitol, N-acetylcysteine, natriuretic peptides, renal replacement therapy, sodium bicarbonate-based fluids, sodium chloride-based fluids, and theophylline.