Diagnosis & management of renal failure

Abstract

The rational management of renal failure begins with accurate diagnosis of the specific functional or morphological factors responsible for its development. Many types of acute renal failure, as well as those varieties of chronic failure associated with metabolic disturbances, obstruction, and certain generalized diseases, may be completely or partially reversed by specific treatment of the cause. Even when the disease is irreversible, therapeutic efforts directed at the numerous complications which tend to accompany renal failure may still be very effective in relieving symptoms and prolonging life. As more and more renal substance is destroyed, life and health become dependent on progressively smaller changes in renal function and excretory load. Meticulous attention to all the details of management described above may therefore make the difference between compensation and renal failure. No matter how hopeless the situation may at first appear, every uremic patient should have the benefit of a systematic search for all possible factors involved in the pathogenesis of his disease, followed by an intensive trial of whatever therapeutic measures seem applicable.