HEMOFILTRATION   Free access

Minerva Anestesiologica 1999 June;65(6):437-9

Copyright © 2000 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Results from ethical international surveys on the management of the continuous renal replacement therapy

Zamperetti N. ¹, Ronco C. ², Digito A. ¹, Piccinni P. ¹, Dan M. ¹

¹ Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, St. Bortolo Hospital - Vicenza; ² Department of Nephrology, St. Bortolo Hospital - Vicenza

Objective. To exam­ine the eth­i­cal ­approach of cli­ni­cians to the con­tin­u­ous ­renal replace­ment ther­a­py (­CRRT). Design: Review of inter­na­tion­al sur­veys.
Results. Many sur­veys ­have ­been car­ried out in ­order to eval­u­ate the clin­i­cal ­approach and man­age­ment of the con­tin­u­ous ­renal replace­ment ther­a­py (­CRRT). Nothing has ­been pro­posed in ­order to eval­u­ate it ­from a bio­eth­i­cal ­point of ­view, ­even if ­many sur­veys ­dealt ­with the prob­lem of the eth­i­cal­ly cor­rect admin­is­tra­tion of ­vital sup­ports. These ­data dem­on­strate ­that an eth­i­cal­ly cor­rect ­approach to the man­age­ment of ­life-sav­ing sup­port can be some­times dif­fi­cult. Results of a ­recent ­study on the eth­i­cal ­approach of inten­si­vists and neph­rol­o­gists to ­CRRT ­will be ­shown and dis­cussed.
Conclusions. Several eth­i­cal ques­tions in the man­age­ment of ­CRRT and oth­er ­vital sup­port are ­still ­unsolved. Practical and psy­cho­log­i­cal ­aspects of the cur­ing pro­cess are some­times strong­er ­than bio­eth­i­cal prin­ci­ples.