Continuous renal replacement therapy]

Acute renal failure (ARF) is a common clinical condition with significant mortality. Although intermittent hemodialysis (IHD) represents a standard method of renal replacement therapy in ARF, novel methods of continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) are becoming more important. CRRT allows an excellent control of uremia, volume and acid-base status, avoiding at the same time rapid fluctuations in effective plasma volume, plasma osmolality, or blood pressure. Methods of CRRT differ with respect to the predominant way of solute removal, utilizing convective clearance (continuous ultrafiltration and hemofiltration), diffusive clearance (continuous hemodialysis), or a combination of the both (continuous hemodiafiltration). Based on their properties, CRRT represent method of choice in the treatment of hemodynamically unstable patients with ARF.