ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the incidence and clinicopathological characteristics of acute-on-chronic renal failure (A/C) . Methods Clinical data from all patients diagnosed as A/C by clinical materials and renal biopsy for a 12-year period (Jan, 1990 to Dec, 2001) were collected, and the cause of acute renal failure (ARF), relationship between cause and underlying renal diseases and factors affecting prognosis were analyzed. Results One hundred and four A/C patients accounted for 35. 5% of biopsied ARF cases during the same period. Acute interstitial Aubulointerstitial disease, increased activity of lupus nephritis (LN) and idiopathic ARF in nephrotic syndrome (NS) were the most common causes of ARF in A/C. And 39 A/C cases (35.6% ) were drug-related. Offending drugs were mostly antibiotics, non-steroid anti- inflammatory drugs or combination of them. Idiopathic ARF was commonly seen in minimal change diseases with ARF. Flare-up of underlying diseases was mostly occurred in LN patients. The causes of 9 malignant hypertension cases were IgA nephropathy, sclerotic nephritis and so on. The mortality of this group was 1. 9% (2 cases): one patient died of multiple organ failure resulted from basal disease; the other suffered from sudden death of unknown reason. Thirty-nine cases needed renal replacement therapy, and after 28. 5 days' treatment on the average, 23 of them did not need dialysis any more. Serum creatinine (Scr) returned to normal level in 48 patients (46. 2% ) when discharged. Twenty-one cases had been diagnosed before consulting to our department. Among them, 15 cases (71. 4% ) were diagnosed as "chronic renal failure . Multivariate Logistic regressive analysis showed that hypertension, dialysis therapy and high Scr level indicated poor renal prognosis. Conclusions A/C is an common part of ARF. Being aware of adverse effects of drugs (especially for elders), decreasing the activity of connective tissue diseases, controlling the blood pressure and keeping proper circulating volume are very important for patients with chronic renal diseases. After reasonable therapy, most patients' renal function can be improved. Early correct diagnosis and treatment are important.