The cardiorenal syndrome is a broad term used to describe the association of heart failure and renal impairment. A recent classification has sought to separate different clinical presentations, but the underlying pathophysiological causes are not readily differentiated in this way. Patients developing the cardiorenal syndrome are at major risk of mortality and morbidity due to multiple and complex interactions. There is now growing interest in the role of anemia in worsening outcome. (…)

While sudden cardiac death rates are inordinately high in advanced chronic kidney disease, evidencebased prevention algorithms are lacking. This article examines the difficulties of case definition in observational studies of intrinsically unhealthy populations, associations between event rates and declining kidney function, potentially modifiable risk markers, and the lack of evidence-based therapies. On the basis of high event rates, trials in the general population, and temporal patterns of event rates in dialysis patients, we argue that definitive trials of implanted (…)

“Cardiorenal syndrome” refers to the different combinations of simultaneous impairment in cardiac and renal function. The presence of albuminuria and/or diminished estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) results in increased risk of cardiovascular (CV) events and of developing end-stage renal disease. The high prevalence of chronic kidney disease along the CV continuum is explained by the fact that they share common pathophysiological mechanisms. This also explains the similarities in pharmacological treatment (…)

Anemia and/or iron deficiency (ID) is a frequent comorbidity in patients with cardiorenal syndrome, and together with heart failure (HF) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) constitutes the cardio-renal-anemia syndrome. There are substantial differences in the pathogenesis of anemia as well as in the effect of treatment with erythropoietin (EPO) or its analogs (with or without iron), depending on whether anemic patients have primary HF or primary CKD. Studies with EPO or its analogs in anemic patients with HF are still inconclusive, and show evidence of EPO resistance, (…)