40 Years of Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy

Continuous renal replacement therapies (CRRT) started off as an alternative to hemo- or peritoneal dialysis. Today's machines and techniques are the result of 4 decades of developments, studies, and practices which can be divided into 4 distinct stages: exploration and development; birth of a new specialty called critical care nephrology; design of specific new devices and machines; and interaction among various specialists to adapt extracorporeal therapies for multiple organ support and sepsis.