What is Acute Renal Failure?

Injury to the glomerulus and the tubules presents the onset of Intra-renal failure (Matzke, 2011). Some of the frequent causes for Intra-renal failure are glomerulonephritis; pyelonephritis; and tubular injury. Post-renal failure develops from things like ureteroliths, tumors, or anatomic impediments. Opposite of the acute form, the chronic form has a slow onset that has no early stage symptoms. It is important to know that following an acute episode a chronic renal episode often follows, and at this juncture the damage is irreversible. Glomerulonephritis and pyelonephritis combined, has been reported to be the forerunner in as much as half the cases from acute to chronic renal failure. Diabetes mellitus, renal vascular disease, such as atherosclerosis, hypertension, polycystic kidney disease, drug damage, and nephrolith are all examples of other causes of CKD (Pradeep, 2014). Biopsies of kidneys that suffered with CKD reveal smaller kidneys with scarring on the tubules.

Prerenal acute renal failure- accounts for 60% of cases of ARF- is the most common cause of ARF and is caused by impaired renal blood flow. The GFR drops because of the decrease in filtration pressure. Poor perfusion can result from hypovolemia, hemorrhage, renal vasoconstricition, hypotension, or inadequate cardiac output. This type of renal failure may occur when chronic renal failure exists if a sudden stress is imposed on already marginally functioning kidneys. If blood volume or blood pressure and oxygen delivery is not restored, cell injury and acute tubular necrosis or acute interstitial necrosis may be caused (Perrin, 2009).

Acute renal failure condition is diagnosed and retitled as acute kidney injury. The purpose of the change of terminology was to encompass the full spectrum of the clinical manifestations associated with the syndrome. This includes a range from a small decline in kidney function to a severe impairment. Furthermore, the acute condition is characterized by a rapid loss of kidney function. In addition, associated manifestation(s) may be displayed as a rise in serum creatinine or a reduction in urine output. As a result of increase of serum creatinine or decline in urine output may developed and aggress to the clinical manifestation azotemia.

Both of our kidneys functions to filter and excrete waste products and toxins by regulating fluids, electrolytes, and acid based balance. If the Renal blood flow is altered then the glomerular filtration rate will be altered as well. A decrease in systemic pressure stimulates the sympathetic nervous system to constrict the renal artery and decreases filtration and secretion in the kidney. In addition, a tubular obstruction can lead to the reduction of Glomerular filtration rate. An elevated intracellular calcium level due to tubular damage may alter cellular level that increases tubuloglomerular feedback and diminishes GFR. This may be prerenal, intrarenal, or postrenal. The prerenal will result from any condition outside of the kidney that disables the blood to flow to the renal vasculature causing a decrease in perfusion in the glomerulus leading to oliguria. However, both of the kidneys can still return to its full normal function on this stage. Second of the three is intrarenal, where anything can cause a direct damage to both of the kidneys such as infections, toxins, reduce blood supply, hypertension, diabetes, and even glomerulonephritis. The most common intrarenal condition is Acute Tubular Necrosis, where the epithelial layer of the nephrons are damaged causing a change in the concentration of urine, waste filtration, and an imbalance in electrolytes and acid

Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) is often characterized by a rapid decline in renal excretory function, and/or a significant decrease in urine output (SOURCE). The exact level of function loss required to be defined as AKI has been debated; however, the Acute Kidney Injury Network (AKIN) has released a widely accepted system used to define AKI and its varying levels of severity (1). The stages of AKI severity are classified as: risk, injury, failure, loss of function, and end-stage kidney disease, collectively referred to as RIFLE, as illustrated in Figure 1. Severity is defined based on glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and urine output criteria. GFR criteria includes serum creatinine concentration (Screat) and GFR, with an increase in Screat or a

Kidney failure is the result of kidney disease that has either not been treated, or failed to respond to treatment. Some kidney diseases are: Acute kidney failure (potentially reversible), Acute nephritic syndrome, Goodpasture syndrome, Atheroembolic renal disease, Glomerulonephritis, Polycystic kidney disease, and chronic kidney failure (end stage) (United States National Library, 2010). The usual treatment for kidney failure is medication and dialysis. Dialysis is used for end stage kidney failure, when the patient has lost

What happens when your kidneys fail? Acute renal failure is a disorder of the kidneys when it’s ceased to perform its functions. For example, the kidneys lose its ability to excrete wastes. When your kidneys fail because of a disease or injury, wastes and extra fluid can build up in the blood and make you sick. Kidneys will not be able to maintain homeostasis of electrolytes. A high level of plasma potassium, sodium concentration, and elevated pH will be evident as well.

Acute renal failure, also known as acute kidney injury is described to be a rapid loss of

Acute renal failure is a sudden decrease of kidney function often characterized by the loss of homeostatic equilibrium of the internal medium causing waste accumulation in the blood. Aside from accumulation of waste products like nitrogen and urea, it is also characterized by a sudden decrease of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) which disables the kidney from filtering waste products that is harmful to the body. Evidently, acute renal failure disables the kidney from maintaining fluid and electrolyte balance. As stated by kidneyatlas.org, causes for acute renal failure are classified into three: prerenal, intrarenal, and postrenal.

According to national kidney foundation, acute kidney injury is defined as a sudden episode of kidney failure or damage that occurs in our body within a few hours or a few days. For the patient having acute kidney failure, the waste products will build-up in their blood and it makes their kidneys hard to keep the right balance of fluid in their body. It can also be defined as an abrupt or rapid fall in renal filtration rate. Acute kidney injury is detected by an increased in serum creatinine concentration or by an increased in level of blood urea nitrogen. However, when the patient just diagnosed with acute kidney injury, their serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen may seem normal and at this time the only sign that they can detect is through

Nephrotoxins, acute interstitial nephritis, glomerular damage, and vascular damage also correlate with intrarenal acute renal failure (Singh, Levy, & Pusey, 2013). Postrenal acute renal failure is usually a result of a urinary tract obstruction that affects the kidneys bilaterally, which causes the intraluminal pressure upstream from the site of the obstruction to increase with a progressive decrease in the glomerular filtration rate (McCance, Huether, Brashers, & Rote, 2014). A pattern consisting of several hours of anuria with flank pain followed by polyuria is typically found in individuals with postrenal acute renal failure (McCance, Huether, Brashers, & Rote, 2014).

High blood pressure which is called hypertension is another common disease which can cause chronic renal failure. This

Patients who are diagnosed with acute renal failure go through difficult times dealing with the disease. Their families too experience psychological difficulties, not knowing the degree of suffering their loved ones are going through. Therefore, in order to provide the best of care for the patient, nurses need to be knowledgeable about the problem, and find the best professional way to educate the patient and family so that the patient does not end up into the hospital for re-admission. Family members can best relate to the situation and understand what their loved ones are going through if they are included into the care of the patients. You get a better outcome when you treat patients as a whole. It is critical for nurses and other health care workers to provide patients and their family members with the necessary information in order for them to make informed decisions.

research paper, is to provide a general overview of the causes of kidney failure, shedding light on it

There are different types of renal failure such as chronic kidney disease which is a slow progression over time and it can go unnoticed for a long time. Acute renal failure occurs suddenly, happening within a few hours or a few days, if not caught in time