Acute Renal Failure as Seen in A Haemodialysis Unit

Thirty-eight patients with acute renal failure (ARF) treated with haemodialysis seen at the nephrology unit of King Fahd Hospital of the University (KFHU) over a period of 5 years were studied with regard to their clinical characteristics, aetiological spectrum, severity of disease and final outcome. Medical causes contributed to ARF in 60.5% cases, the prominent among them were acute nephritis, septicaemia and acute interstitial renal disease. Surgical causes accounted for 34.2% of cases; half of these were due to acute urinary obstruction mostly from urinary calculi. This pattern and frequency of medical and surgical causes of ARF was in conformity with that seen in developing countries and in contrast to that observed in the developed countries. Obstetric ARF was, however, infrequent in contrast to experience from developing countries