One hundred and twenty patients with a mean age of 38 years (range 12-85 years; M 91, F 37) were studied over a period of 5 years in a teaching hospital in Dhaka. Sixty-two patients presented with probable anuria with 1-4 days' duration, 63 patients presented with oliguria, and 3 were nonoliguric. The causes of acute renal failure were medical (94), surgical (22), obstetrical (13). Of the medical cases, the causes were gastroenteritis in 42 cases, gastroenteritis with CNS involvement in 11 cases, rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis in 10 cases, acute viral hepatitis in 8 cases, and septicemia in 8 cases. Of 22 surgical cases, postoperative acute renal failure was the cause in 9, road traffic accident in 6, and renal calculus disease in 7. There were 13 cases in the obstetrics group, of whom 9 were due to abortion, 2 were due to preeclampsia, and the other 2 were postoperative. The mean blood urea of all cases was 35 mmol/L and serum creatinine was 988 mumol/L. Dialysis was required in 105 cases; of these, 72 were medical cases, 21 were surgical cases, and 12 were obstetric cases. The overall survival rate was 75%. The improved survival is probably due to timely referral and prompt medical management.