Is continuous haemofiltration superior to intermittent dialysis and haemofiltration treatment?

1. Mortality in cases of acute renal failure has increased from roughly 30% to roughly 70% in recent decades. 2. The rise paralleled the creation of intensive care units. In such units, more seriously ill patients reach the stage of acute renal failure. Before the advent of intensive care units, these patients died before acute renal failure could occur. 3. From a theoretical viewpoint, continuous haemofiltration (CH) has substantial advantages as opposed to intermittent dialysis and haemofiltration treatment. 4. No clinical proof of the superiority of continuous haemofiltration to the intermittent techniques has yet been provided. 5. In our own patient group, total mortality for acute renal failure patients decreased following adoption of continuous haemofiltration. During a selected period of use of continuous haemofiltration for patients with an unfavourable prognosis, however, the mortality with continuous haemofiltration was higher than that with the intermittent methods.