Stopping Acute Kidney Replacement Therapy

An important aspect of the management of critically ill patients which is still controversial is the timing of initiation and cessation of renal replacement therapy (RRT). Whilst in recent publications, timing of initiation of RRT was listed as one of the top priorities in research on acute kidney injury (AKI), the cessation of RRT has received little attention and has not been studied extensively. This chapter provides a conceptual framework for the factors influencing treatment cessation, provides suggestions for techniques to evaluate residual kidney function, and discusses various approaches to optimize the stopping of RRT in patients with AKI.