Acute renal failure in combat injuries

The mortality in 25 patients suffering from post-combat injury acute renal failure (ARF) was 64%. Abdominal injuries were present in 17 patients with a mortality rate of 64.7%. Respiratory insufficiency occurred in 14 patients, jaundice occurred in 13, and septicemia in 10. The mean period of oliguria was high, 24.1 days per survivor, and the number of hemodialyses averaged 21.6 per survivor. It is concluded that the high mortality is primary due to the severity of the underlying injury itself and not due to the renal failure, that the ARF is more severe than in civilian injuries, as evidenced by a prolonged oliguric phase, and that frequent and intensive hemodialysis regimen is necessary for the elimination of deaths from uremia per se.