Stages of Acute Renal Failure

Acute Renal Failure refers to the kidneys fail in a very short time. There are many causes for Acute Renal Failure. In clinical practices, the progression of Acute Renal Failure is generally the same and is divided into oliguric phase, diuretic phase and recovery phase.
1. Oliguric phase
At this phase, the kidneys are damaged seriously and the urine production ability of kidneys declines. Therefore, in a short time, the urine volume declines in a short time. Generally speaking, the urine output volume is less than 400 ml in 24 hours. Moreover, various kinds of toxins accumulate in body, which can lead to systemic toxic symptoms like vomit, nausea, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, hypertension, heart failure, acidosis, electrolyte disturbance and so on. For weak immunity, it is very likely to lead to various kinds of infections and even threaten the patients’ lives. Oliguric phase usually lasts for 7~14 days. The longer this phase lasts, the worse the prognosis of the disease will be. In this phase, the patients need to control the food and water intake, it will benefit the recovery of their disease.
2. Diuretic phase
In Diuretic phase, the urine output in 24 hours can exceed 400 ml and even 2500 ml. This phase can last for 1~3 weeks. When diuretic phase starts, as the glomerular filtration rate does not recover and the concentration ability of renal tubule is very poor so the urine output is usually very high. Moreover, the levels of urea nitrogen, creatinine and potassium in blood will increase further. Moreover, water and electrolyte disturbance, infections and so on are also very common in this phase. In this phase, the patients should improve their nutrition and increase the water intake, which is good to the recovery of their disease.
3. Recovery phase
In recovery phase, the renal tubule grows again and the glomerular filtration rate recovers normal as well as the urea nitrogen level and creatinine level decline to the normal range.
For the patients with Kidney Disease, if their kidneys fail rapidly in a short time, they should take the best therapeutic opportunity to receive treatment. In this way, they will be able to decline the kidney damage to the biggest extent.