title: Etiology, presentation and management of acute renal failure in Saudi children.
abstract: One hundred children with acute renal failure (ARF) were admitted in our Nephrology Unit, Maternity & Children's Hospital over a four year period. Male patients outnumbered females with a ratio of 3:2. The ages of patients ranged from 1 month to 13 years with a mean age of 3.9 years. Fifty-five were suffering from intrinsic renal factors, 32 from post-renal and 13 were due to pre-renal factors. Among the intrinsic causes: acute glomerulonephritis (27 patients) and hemolytic-uremic syndrome (15 patients) were most common. Posterior urethral valve (20 patients) was the leading cause of post-renal failure. All pre-natal failure was due to diarrheal disease. Forty patients with ARF required dialysis (23 peritoneal dialysis, 17 hemodialysis). The remaining 60 patients were treated conservatively. The outcome in our patients were as follows; 60% cured, 29% continued to have variable degrees of renal failure and only 11% died. The latter was due to sepsis and cardiorespiratory failure.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Nephrology Unit, Department of Pediatrics, Maternity and Children's Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Mahmoud
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Al-Harbi
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Al-Sowailem
authors.forename: T K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Mattoo