Journal Article

Acute Renal Failure and Sepsis

Wang, Wei, Schrier, Robert W

2004

Overview

The combination of acute renal failure and sepsis is associated with an ominous 70 percent mortality. This article discusses the substantial progress in understanding the mechanisms of sepsis-associated acute renal failure. Interventions based on pathogenetic factors may reduce both incidence and mortality. Acute renal failure occurs in approximately 19 percent of patients with moderate sepsis, 23 percent with severe sepsis, and 51 percent with septic shock when blood cultures are positive (Table 1 and Table 2). 1 , 2 A progressive increase in the acute respiratory distress syndrome also occurs with moderate and severe sepsis and septic shock. In the United States, an estimated 700,000 cases of sepsis occur each year, resulting in more than 210,000 deaths; this number accounts for 10 percent of all deaths annually and exceeds the number of deaths due to myocardial infarction. 3 The combination of acute renal failure and sepsis is . . .

• Publisher: Massachusetts Medical Society
• Subject: Acute Kidney Injury - etiology / Acute Kidney Injury - mortality / Acute Kidney Injury - prevention & control / Arginine Vasopressin - therapeutic use / Biological and medical sciences / General aspects / Hemodynamics / Humans / Kidneys / Medical sciences / Nephrology. Urinary tract diseases / Nephropathies. Renovascular diseases. Renal failure / Nitric oxide / Nitric Oxide - physiology / Proteins / Renal failure / Respiratory distress syndrome / Rodents / Sepsis - complications / Sepsis - drug therapy / Sepsis - physiopathology / Shock, Septic - complications / Vasoconstriction / Vasoconstrictor Agents - therapeutic use / Vasodilation