Clinical determinants of survival from postoperative renal failure

In a series of 114 consecutive patients with acute renal failure, the over-all mortality rate was 60 per cent; 62 per cent of the patients had a documented episode of hypotension just prior to the development of acute renal failure. In 11 patients, a second episode of renal failure developed following recovery from the initial episode of acute renal failure; all of these patients died. The urine output rate during the course of acute renal failure was inversely related to the mortality rate in the series as a whole. The mean duration of acute renal failure in survivors of the present series was 11.0 plus or minus 1.4 days. Complications of renal failure in the order of their frequency included hemorrhagic hypotension, sepsis, sepsis with hypotension and consumption coagulopathies; only 12 per cent had no complications. Only six of 51 patients whose clinical course was complicated by sepsis with or without an episode of hypotension survived. By contrast, 30 of 53 patients who had hemorrhagic hypotension without sepsis survived. The date suggest that although acute renal failure has a high mortality rate, it is a benign disease that is potentially reversible. Regardless of age and sex, renal functional recovery will take place if the patient is maintained in good physiologic condition long enough without a continued stress, such as sepsis, hypotension or hypovolemia, all of which prolong renal ischemia. During the course of renal failure, extreme care is essential to maintain adequate circulating volume without extracellular fluid overload; a second hemodynamic insult may result in serious damage to the regenerating renal tubules. We conclude that early recognition of acute renal failure, aggressive management of sepsis, careful titration of fluid and electrolyte therapy, meticulous monitoring, maintenance of the circulation and judicious utilization of dialysis will aid in reduction of mortality in these critically ill patients.