- Intrinsic (damage to the kidney itself) [It is most irreversible of the 3]. It's cause can be broken down into the 4 segments of the kidney:
- Interstitium - Acute interstitial nephritis, caused by
- Glomerulus
- Tubules
- Vascular
- toxins or medication (e.g. some NSAIDs, aminoglycoside antibiotics, iodinated contrast, lithium, phosphate nephropathy due to bowel preparation for colonoscopy with sodium phosphates)
- rhabdomyolysis (breakdown of muscle tissue) - the resultant release of myoglobin in the blood affects the kidney; it can be caused by injury (especially crush injury and extensive blunt trauma), statins, stimulants and some other drugs
- hemolysis (breakdown of red blood cells) - the hemoglobin damages the tubules; it may be caused by various conditions such as sickle-cell disease, and lupus erythematosus
- multiple myeloma, either due to hypercalcemia or "cast nephropathy" (multiple myeloma can also cause chronic renal failure by a different mechanism)
- acute glomerulonephritis which may be due to a variety of causes, such as anti glomerular basement membrane disease/Goodpasture's syndrome, Wegener's granulomatosis or acute lupus nephritis with [[systemic lupus erythematosus]