Changing the Terminology from Kidney Replacement Therapy to Kidney Support Therapy

Kidney replacement therapy(KRT) is a common supportive treatment for renal dysfunction, especially acute kidney injury. However, critically ill or immunosuppressed patients with renal dysfunction often have dysfunction in other organs as well. To improve patient outcomes, clinicians began to initiate kidney replacement therapy in situations where non‐renal conditions may lead to AKI, such as septic shock, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, veno‐occlusive renal disease, cardiopulmonary bypass, chemotherapy, tumor lysis syndrome, hyperammonemia, and various others. In this review, we discuss the use of various modes of kidney replacement therapy in treating renal and non‐renal complications to illustrate why kidney support therapy is a more appropriate terminology than renal replacement therapy.