Section 1: Introduction and Methodology

The concept of acute renal failure (ARF) has undergone significant re-examination in recent years. Mounting evidence suggests that acute, relatively mild injury to the kidney or impairment of kidney function, manifest by changes in urine output and blood chemistries, portend serious clinical consequences. Traditionally, most reviews and textbook chapters emphasize the most severe reduction in kidney function, with severe azotemia and often with oliguria or anuria. It has only been in the past few years that moderate decreases of kidney function have been recognized as potentially important, in the critically ill, and in studies on contrast-induced nephropathy.