The treatment of uraemia with special reference to acute renal failure.

The diagnosis of uraemia is often considered synonymous with a hopeless prognosis, or, at best, a condition from which a patient may recover but on which treatment has no specific effect. This paper attempts to set out a rational system of treatment for uraemia. The clinical picture, aetiology of the renal failure, diagnosis and prognosis are briefly considered before treatment is discussed. Fishberg1 has defined uraemia as' the symptomcomplex resulting from renal insufficiency and accompanying the retention of urinary constituents in the organism.' It should not be forgotten that water is the most important urinary constituent, and many of the symptoms of oliguric uraemia result from its retention.