Opinion survey about the evaluation and management of acute renal failure in Saudi Arabia

Abstract EN

To evaluate the approach of physicians to the diagnosis and management of acute renal failure (ARF) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a questionnaire was mailed to nephrologists, physicians attending to renal failure patients, specialists working in intensive care unit (ICU) and the general physicians in 110 hospitals, which have either an ICU or a dialysis unit.

The questions were related to the areas of evaluation, conservative management, dialysis therapy, and prognosis of ARF.

There were 135 responses from 76 hospitals (69%); 37 of small size (<150 beds), 21 of medium size (151-400 beds), and 18 of large size (401-1200 beds).

There were 69 respondents from the small hospitals, 34 from the medium-sized, and 32 from the large hospitals.

According to the respondents, the most encountered ARF patients were in the intensive care units and were most likely due to sepsis and nephrotoxic drugs.

There were no differences among the respondents in the areas of initial evaluation, conservative and/or emergency treatment.

However, the nephrologists were significantly more willing to follow-up their ARF patients and to carry more specific diagnostic procedures (i.e., renal biopsy) and specific advanced therapeutic procedures (i.e., dialysis), More ARF patients are being treated by continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) than intermittent hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis.

The minority of the respondents believed that the prognosis of ARF had not improved much, despite the improvement in diagnosis and therapy.

They attributed this to the change in the demographics of ARF, since more ICU and elderly patients are seen in practice.

We conclude that nephrologists are indispensable for the management of acute renal failure.

More efforts may be needed to recruit nephrologists to hospitals in Saudi Arabia.

A local fellowship program may help in this regard.

Furthermore, CRRT facilities, at least in the large hospitals, are required.