Cardiorenal syndrome: Resistant to diuretics, sensitive to ultraflitration

Abstract

Cardiac and renal diseases are becoming increasingly common today, and are seen to frequently coexist, thus causing a significant increase in the mortality rate, morbidity, complexity of treatment and cost of care. Syndromes describing the interaction between heart and kidney have been defined and classified; however, never as a result of a consensus process. Though the incidence of cardiorenal syndrome is increasing, the associated pathophysiology and effective management are still not well understood. For many years, diuretics and ultrafiltration, have been the mainstay of treatment for cardiorenal syndrome, although a significant proportion of patients develop resistance to diuretics, and even deteriorate while on diuretics. Here, we will discuss one such patient who failed to respond to the optimum doses of diuretics; however, his blood urea and serum creatinine touched the baseline levels post-ultrafiltration.