ABSTRACT
Acute renal failure (ARF) is a syndrome characterized by the rapid (hours to days) loss of glomerular filtration and the accumulation of nitrogenous waste products (1). Unlike the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which has a clinical consensus definition (2), ARF continues to be defined differently by various investigators. For this reason, the precise incidence of ARF is unknown; however, amongst the published studies, using a variety of definitions, the estimated incidence of ARF in critically ill patients ranges between 15% and 30%, and portends an increased mortality in affected patients by as much as 40% to 60% (3-6). Recently, a group of international nephrology leaders have been meeting to develop a consensus definition of ARF amongst other issues, and it is likely that standards for the diagnosis of ARF will soon be in place (7), and the term acute kidney injury (AKI) may become used in place of ARF.
