DO BIOCOMPATIBLE MEMBRANES MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE TREATMENT OF ACUTE-RENAL-FAILURE

The persistently high mortality rate of patients with acute renal fail ure (ARF) calls for intensive exploration of the different modes of ma nagement available. The introduction of biocompatible membranes into t he treatment of ARF has resulted in controversial opinions regarding t heir benefit. In this study, it was shown that the outcome of patients in whom ARF followed a surgical procedure was better in the group tha t underwent hemodialysis using a polysulfone membrane (PS group) when compared to the group using a modified cellulose acetate membrane (CA group; p = 0.02, chi-square). It was also found that the renal functio n in the PS group recovered sooner, requiring a fewer number of extrac orporeal circulation sessions. It is important to stress that the PS a nd CA groups included patients of comparable severity of the underlyin g disease, as was documented by the mean APACHE II scores of each grou p.