Dose in continuous renal replacement therapy

Abstract

Continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) is one of the most used types of renal replacement therapies for the treatment of critically ill patients with acute kidney injury (AKI). Recent practice clinical guidelines based on recent clinical trials recommend a prescribed dose of 20-25 mL/kg/h of effluent since these trials could not find differences between high-intensity versus low-intensity CRRT dose and different outcomes as mortality and recovery of renal function. Nevertheless, the results of these recent trials do not mean that CRRT dose is not important, and on the contrary, these trials inform us that dose needs to be continuously assessed and modified according to clinical, metabolic, and physiological needs of each patient. Dose prescription in CRRT needs to be a dynamic and precise process, in which evidence-based quality measures will be used to guide CRRT dose prescription that will match daily patients needs. Delivered dose should be routinely monitored to ensure that it will be achieved. Quality measures for monitoring delivered dose of CRRT have been proposed, but they still need validation, before be implemented into clinical practice.