Cardiorenal syndrome

Abstract

The term cardiorenal syndrome (CRS) has been used to define different clinical conditions in which heart and kidney dysfunction overlap. An effective classification of CRS has been proposed in a Consensus Conference by the Acute Dialysis Quality Group in 2008. This classification essentially divides CRS in two main groups, cardio - renal and reno - cardiac CRS, on the basis of primum movens of disease (cardiac or renal); both cardio - renal and reno - cardiac CRS are then divided into acute and chronic according to disease’s onset. Type 5 of CRS integrates all cardio - renal involvement induced by systemic disease. Pathophysiological pathways are different according to primary disease but final pathways often overlap except for type - 5 that is closely related to primary disease. Therapeutic approaches differ for acute and chronic syndromes and they are characterized both by pharmacological and non - pharmacological strategies.