Commentary: the practice of dialysis in the intensive care unit in a developing country

In developing countries, little is known about renal replacement therapy (RRT) for acute kidney injury (AKI) in critically ill patients. The aim of this study is to describe characteristics of patients, clinical practice of renal support and outcomes in intensive care units (ICU) in a developing country.

Patients who underwent RRT for AKI from May 2003 to July 2008, in four ICUs in our institution were included in this retrospective study. Patients with end stage renal disease or younger than aged 18 years were exclueded. We have considered: patient demographics, indications of RRT, number of dialysis session, comorbidities, APACH II score for illness severity, mechanical ventilation, use of vasoactive drugs, and mortality rate.

105 critically ill patients admitted during the study period were treated with RRT, with a mean age of 56.13 +/- 16.8 (19-85) years. Sixty five were male and 40 female; all received intermittent hemodialysis. The total number of dialysis sessions was 284, and the mean number was 3.7 +/- 2.9; mean length of session was 225.22 +/- 75.16 (60-290) min. The majority of the cases (67%) were from medical ICU, followed by 30.2% from surgical ICUs (including cardiothoracic surgery ICU) and 2.8% were from burn ICU. The most common comorbidities were type 2 diabetes mellitus in 46 (44%) and hypertension in 35 (33.4%). Sepsis was a contributing factor to AKI in 60 patients (57.14%), hypovolemia in 30 (28.5%), and cardiogenic shock in 9 (8.5%). The APACHE II score was 25.86 +/- 11.8; the majority of patients (66.7%) were ventilated; 63 (60%) were under vasoactive drugs and 88 (83.8%) were oliguric. The most common indication for initiation of dialysis was hyperkalemia in 51 (48.5%) of the cases, followed by severe acidosis in 35 (33.3%) and acute pulmonary edema for 20 (19%). ICU mortality was 68.5% and increased to 95.2% when more than two organs were involved.

Our experience suggests that indications for initiation of RRT in ICU are not greatly different from that in industrialized countries; yet, the big difference is in a high mortality rate among our patients.