ETIOLOGY AND OUTCOME OF ACUTE-RENAL-FAILURE SECONDARY TO WAR RELATED TRAUMA AND INFECTIOUS-DISEASE IN CROATIA

The aim of our study was to explore the aetiology and the outcome of a cute renal failure (ARF) during the war in Croatia. Of the 2132 patien ts admitted to our hospital between April 1990 and November 1992 due t o war related trauma, 11 (0.5%) developed ARF. We believe that the dev elopment of ARF in these patients was secondary to an overwhelming sep tic process. Most of our patients suffered from multiple organ failure . Of the 11 patients suffering from ARF due to war related trauma only four recovered (63.6% had died). We attribute the lethal outcome to t he progression of the septic process. Patients who developed ARF due t o infectious diseases unrelated to trauma had a different prognosis. A cute renal failure caused by the Hantan virus ran a benign course, in both its oliguric and non-oliguric form. Patients who developed ARF as a complication of leptospirosis also had a good prognosis. Although A RF is usually of a multifactorial genesis, our study aimed to emphasiz e the importance of disseminated septic processes as a cause of ARF.