A main person involved left the site

Actual clinical practice predominantly makes use of heparin (systemically) or citrate regionally as anticoagulation in the extracorporeal circulation for renal replacement therapy. We aim to find out if different anticoagulation strategies may lead to different levels of platelet activation and whole blood coagulation. Regarding coagulation activation, it remains uncertain if there is an advantage for one of these methods. However, it is of major interest to minimize the risk of any additional clotting activation via extracorporeal circulation in these usually critically ill patients.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age > 18 years, acute renal failure with need for continuous veno-venous renal replacement therapy

Exclusion Criteria:

• Age < 18 years, pregnancy, contraindications for one of the two anticoagulation methods, missing informed consent or disagreement in the progress of the study

Critical ill patients with acute renal failure and the need of continuous renal replacement therapy.