Renal replacement therapy in an intensive care unit: guidelines from the SRLF-GFRUP consensus conference

Although largely used, the place of extracorporeal renal replacement therapy (RRT) in acute kidney injury (AKI) in intensive care unit (ICU) patients has yet to be clarified. The French Intensive Care Society (Société de Réanimation de Langue Française, SRLF) and the French Pediatric Group of Intensive Care and Emergency (Groupe Francophone de Réanimation et d'Urgence Pédiatrique, GFRUP) organized a consensus conference in November 2024.

A committee, without any conflict of interest (CoI) on the subject, defined seven generic questions and drew up a list of sub questions according to the population, intervention, comparison and outcomes (PICO) model. An independent work group reviewed literature using predefined keywords. The quality of the data was assessed using the GRADE methodology. Eighteen experts in the field from both societies proposed their own answers in a public session and answered questions from the jury (a panel of 14 critical-care medicine physicians and a nurse) and the public. The jury then met for 48 h to write out and vote on its recommendations.

The panel provided 45 statements addressing seven questions. In patients, adults or children, admitted to the ICU with AKI (1) What are the indications for RRT, when should it be initiated, and within what timeframe? (2) What are the advantages/disadvantages of the different RRT modalities in ICU, and based on what criteria should they be chosen? (3) Which dose of dialysis should be prescribed for ICU patients? (4) How to prescribe, adjust and monitor each RRT technique? (5) Which vascular access technique should be preferred (insertion site, catheter type and length)? (6) How to prevent circuit thrombosis? (7) What are the criteria to consider weaning from RRT and how can it be achieved?

These recommendations should optimize the prescription and use of RRT during AKI in ICUs for both adult and pediatric patients.