[Acute renal failure in the intensive care unit: which technique of renal replacement therapy?]

Acute renal failure is still associated with a high mortality rate among intensive care patients, despite improvements in renal replacement therapies. The available intermittent and continuous renal replacement therapy techniques all have their own advantages and disadvantages. The best time to start renal replacement therapy and various other practical aspects of these techniques still need to be clarified. For these reasons, daily consultation between intensivists and nephrologists is necessary to select the best technique for the ICU patient with acute renal failure, based on the hemodynamic status, biological variables (uremia, coagulation, acid-base balance, electrolytes) and effects on other organ systems (cognitive state, pericarditis, myopathy). In the future, new markers of renal dysfunction may facilitate treatment choices.