Chronic renal failure

Abstract

Chronic renal failure is recognized by consistently high plasma urea and creatinine concentrations. The degree of renal failure can be arbitrarily divided into mild, moderate or severe, based on the plasma creatinine (Table 13.1). It is convenient (and accurate) to consider the value of glomerular filtration rate or creatinine clearance as a percentage of normal (for example, 20 ml/min is equivalent to 20% of normal function).