Acute renal failure:Sudden and often temporary loss ofkidneyfunction. Also calledacutekidney failure. As opposed to慢性肾功能衰竭.
More recently also called acute kidneyinjury. Many times this is reversible but depending on the cause and severity, it may be irreversible and lead tochronicrenal failure or chronickidney disease. Normally, the kidneys filter thebloodand remove waste and excesssaltandwater.Acute kidney failureis when the kidneys suddenly stop working. Acuterenalfailure can be due to many different causes. Generally these causes can be divided into three categories. Pre-renal means the cause is before the kidney orglomerulus. Generally, this is caused by a decreaseinthe amount of blood that gets to the kidney. Examples include heart failure, liver failure, shock. Another class of acute renal failure ispost-renal. In this type, there is anobstructionto the flow ofurinefrom the kidney. The most common example isprostateproblems in men,urinary tractcancers, which directly obstruct the urine flow, or cancers in theabdomenorpelvisthat push on the ureters that carry the urine from the kidney to thebladder. The last category is termed renal and is due to damage to the kidney itself, especially the filtering units (glomeruli) or the tubules leading from the glomeruli. Examples of renal injury include infections, cancer, some medications and other nephrotoxins, and auto-immunediseases. As well,primarykidney diseases (glomerulonephritis and nephrotic diseases, such asmembranous nephropathy) can damage the kidneys and cause acute renal failure as well as慢性肾功能衰竭. Treatment generally is directed at support ofblood pressureand flow of the blood to the kidneys. As well, any offending agents should be discontinued and anynephrotoxicagents should be avoided. Some cases will be severe enough to require dialysis to remove toxins from the body until the kidneys can recover. Sometimes, the damage is severe enough that it is irreversible and thepatientwill require long-term dialysis orrenal transplant.
