Continuous hemodialysis for the management of acute renal failure in the presence of cerebellar hemorrhage. Case report.

In this report the authors describe the use of continuous venovenous hemodialysis (CVVHD) in a medically unstable patient who suffered from a spontaneous cerebellar hemorrhage. Conventional dialysis techniques carry the risk of developing the dialysis disequilibrium syndrome (DDS) when performed in the presence of a variety of intracranial diseases. The CVVHD technique was used successfully in a morbidly obese, short-statured woman with a spontaneous hypertensive intraparenchymal cerebellar hemorrhage. The woman experienced acute renal failure several days after her hemorrhage and her general medical condition prevented her from undergoing surgical evacuation. The CVVHD did not result in elevations in intracranial pressure (ICP) and the patient made a full recovery from both acute renal failure and life-threatening posterior fossa hemorrhage. This case is noteworthy because of the absence of abnormally high ICP elevations or development of DDS in a patient with a large acute posterior fossa intraparenchymal brain hemorrhage and acute renal failure whose case was managed with CVVHD in the acute period.