Slessarev M, et al. - Among 11 critically ill patients who were started on continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) for acute kidney injury (AKI), researchers evaluated if CRRT was related to cardiac stunning in these patients. They performed transthoracic echocardiography in the participants and prospectively measured cardiac function using global and segmental longitudinal left ventricular strain. They also measured blood pressure, heart rate, dose of vasoactive medications and intensive care unit mortality. The development of new regional cardiac stunning was reported in 10 of 11 patients; 8 out of 11 developed it within 4 hours of initiating CRRT, despite stable hemodynamics. Findings revealed a link between CRRT initiation and cardiac stunning in critically ill patients with AKI. The lack of clinical benefit of CRRT over intermittent modalities could be explained by this mechanism.