A condition in which kidney failure occurs in patients who have been the victims of severe crushing accidents (see also KIDNEYS). The fundamental injury is damage to muscle. The limb swells. The blood volume falls. Blood UREA rises; there is also a rise in the POTASSIUM content of the blood. Urgent treatment in an intensive therapy unit is required and renal dialysis may well be necessary. The patient may survive; or he dies with renal failure. Post-mortem examination shows degeneration of the tubules of the kidney, and the presence in them of pigment casts.