Mitochondrial Health and Hemodynamic Instability Related to Renal Replacement Therapy in Critically Ill Patients

Renal replacement therapy is a life-saving treatment for patients who have sudden and severe kidney failure. However, some of these patients blood pressure who receive this treatment could become unstable, thus resulting in more injuries to their kidneys and may limit the ability of kidney recovery. In order to mitigate the instability in blood pressure, the mitochondrial functions should be studied. Mitochondria are organelles within our bodies' cells that serve as the main source of energy for cell function. Kidney cells have many of these organelles and when they are damaged, it could contribute to kidney disease. At this time, it is not known whether boosting mitochondria health and function in humans could reduce the harm of instability in blood pressure.

This research study is being done to try to explore the impact of HIRRT on mitochondria health and kidney recovery by assessing critically ill patients with AKI who are undergoing SLED treatment in ICU at The Ottawa Hospital.