Renal replacement therapy (RRT) is

therapy A therapy or medical treatment (often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx) is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis. As a rule, each therapy has indications and contraindications. There are many different ...

that replaces the normal

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the cir ...

-filtering function of the

kidney The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blo ...

s. It is used when the kidneys are not working well, which is called

kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as end-stage kidney disease, is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney failure is classified as eit ...

and includes

acute kidney injury Acute kidney injury (AKI), previously called acute renal failure (ARF), is a sudden decrease in kidney function that develops within 7 days, as shown by an increase in serum creatinine or a decrease in urine output, or both. Causes of AKI are c ...

and chronic kidney disease. Renal replacement therapy includes dialysis (

hemodialysis Hemodialysis, also spelled haemodialysis, or simply dialysis, is a process of purifying the blood of a person whose kidneys are not working normally. This type of dialysis achieves the extracorporeal removal of waste products such as creatinin ...

peritoneal dialysis Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is a type of dialysis which uses the peritoneum in a person's abdomen as the membrane through which fluid and dissolved substances are exchanged with the blood. It is used to remove excess fluid, correct electrolyte pro ...

hemofiltration Hemofiltration, also haemofiltration, is a renal replacement therapy which is used in the intensive care setting. It is usually used to treat acute kidney injury (AKI), but may be of benefit in multiple organ dysfunction syndrome or sepsis. During ...

, and hemodiafiltration, which are various ways of filtration of blood with or without machines. Renal replacement therapy also includes kidney transplantation, which is the ultimate form of replacement in that the old kidney is replaced by a donor kidney. These treatments are not truly cures for kidney disease. In the context of chronic kidney disease, they are more accurately viewed as life-extending treatments, although if chronic kidney disease is managed well with dialysis and a compatible graft is found early and is successfully transplanted, the clinical course can be quite favorable, with

life expectancy Life expectancy is a statistical measure of the average time an organism is expected to live, based on the year of its birth, current age, and other demographic factors like sex. The most commonly used measure is life expectancy at birth ...

of many years. Likewise, in certain acute illnesses or

trauma Trauma most often refers to: * Major trauma, in physical medicine, severe physical injury caused by an external source * Psychological trauma, a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a severely distressing event *Traumatic i ...

resulting in acute kidney injury, a person could very well survive for many years, with relatively good

kidney function Assessment of kidney function occurs in different ways, using the presence of symptoms and signs, as well as measurements using urine tests, blood tests, and medical imaging. Functions of a healthy kidney include maintaining a person's fluid ...

, before needing intervention again, as long as they had good response to dialysis, they got a kidney transplant fairly quickly if needed, their body did not reject the transplanted kidney, and they had no other significant health problems. Early dialysis (and, if

indicated In medicine, an indication is a valid reason to use a certain test, medication, procedure, or surgery. There can be multiple indications to use a procedure or medication. An indication can commonly be confused with the term diagnosis. A diagnosis ...

, early renal transplant) in acute kidney failure usually brings more favorable outcomes.

Types

Hemodialysis, hemofiltration, and hemodiafiltration can be continuous or intermittent and can use an arteriovenous route (in which blood leaves from an artery and returns via a vein) or a venovenous route (in which blood leaves from a vein and returns via a vein). This results in various types of RRT, as follows: * continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) — continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) is a form of dialysis therapy used in critical care settings. The benefit of CRRT for critically ill patients is that it runs slowly (generally over 24 hours to several days) allowing for removal of

excess fluid Hypervolemia, also known as fluid overload, is the medical condition where there is too much fluid in the blood. The opposite condition is hypovolemia, which is too little fluid volume in the blood. Fluid volume excess in the intravascular compa ...

and uremic toxins with less risk of hypotensive complications. ** continuous hemodialysis (CHD) *** continuous arteriovenous hemodialysis (CAVHD) *** continuous venovenous hemodialysis (CVVHD) ** continuous hemofiltration (CHF) *** continuous arteriovenous hemofiltration (CAVH or CAVHF) *** continuous venovenous hemofiltration (CVVH or CVVHF) ** continuous hemodiafiltration (CHDF) *** continuous arteriovenous hemodiafiltration (CAVHDF) *** continuous venovenous hemodiafiltration (CVVHDF) * intermittent renal replacement therapy (IRRT) ** intermittent hemodialysis (IHD) *** intermittent venovenous hemodialysis (IVVHD) ** intermittent hemofiltration (IHF) *** intermittent venovenous hemofiltration (IVVH or IVVHF) ** intermittent hemodiafiltration (IHDF) *** intermittent venovenous hemodiafiltration (IVVHDF)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Renal replacement therapy Nephrology procedures

Types

See also

References

External links