Kidney international
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Kidney international · Sep 2002
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialDual renin-angiotensin system blockade at optimal doses for proteinuria.
The antiproteinuric effect of combining the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor lisinopril and the angiotensin II (Ang II) antagonist losartan was compared to that of the optimal antiproteinuric doses of monotherapy. ⋯ Dose-titration with a renin-angiotensin system blocker, followed by add-on therapy is highly effective in order to reduce proteinuria. The safety of this regimen needs to be addressed in future studies.
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Kidney international · Sep 2002
Comparative StudyRenal failure in the ICU: comparison of the impact of acute renal failure and end-stage renal disease on ICU outcomes.
Acute renal failure (ARF) is associated with a persistent high mortality in critically ill patients in intensive care units (ICUs). Most studies to date have focused on patients with established, intrinsic ARF or relatively severe ARF due to multiple factors. None have examined outcomes of dialysis-dependent chronic renal failure [end-stage renal disease (ESRD)] patients in the ICU. We examined the incidence and outcomes of ARF in the ICU using a standard definition and compared these to outcomes of ICU patients with either ESRD or no renal failure. We sought to determine the impact of renal dysfunction and/or loss of organ function on outcome. ⋯ ARF is common in ICU patients and has a persistent negative impact on outcomes, although the majority of ARF is not severe enough to require dialysis support. The mortality of patients with ARF from all causes is almost exactly similar to that noted using the same criteria two decades ago. More profound ARF requiring dialysis continues to have an even greater mortality. Nevertheless, acute declines in renal function are associated with a mortality that is not well explained simply by loss of organ function. The majority of ARF patients who did not require dialysis still had a considerably higher mortality than the ESRD patients, all of whom required dialysis; while ARF patients who did require dialysis had a much higher morality than ESRD patients. APACHE III performs well and captures the mortality of patients with ARF at the time of scoring. Development of ARF after scoring has a profound effect on standardized mortality. We were unable to identify a unique mortality associated with ARF, but the presence of measurable renal insufficiency continues to be a sensitive marker for poor outcome.