The hospital mortality rate of patients with severe acute renal failure in patients requiring intensive care remains high. In order to compare patient groups in further trials concerning acute renal failure, recorded characteristics of the population should include age, previous health status, disease characteristics (initial or delayed acute renal failure, oliguria, sepsis), and the severity of the illness as assessed by physiologic scoring systems recorded at the time of study inclusion.

Patients with acute renal failure due to sepsis have a worse prognosis than those with non-septic acute renal failure. Sepsis and the above-defined predictive factors are to be considered in studies on prognosis of ARF patients. Our results suggest that the use of biocompatible membranes may reduce significantly mortality in these patients.

Initial renal biopsy helps predict prognosis in patients with multiple myeloma and renal involvement. Maintenance haemodialysis is a reasonable indication in light chain deposit disease and AL-amyloidosis, especially in patients aged < 70. Multidrug therapy tends to prolong survival and slow progression to end-stage renal disease.