Renal failure..

My Brother in law just found out that he is in renal failure with a bun of 49 and a Creatinine of 2+ the process seems slow at finding out answers. But how severe is this?
Thanks much.

[Dr_Aparna]

Hi,
Renal failure or kidney failure is a situation in which the kidneys fail to function adequately. It is divided in acute and chronic forms; either form may be due to a large number of other medical problems.
Biochemically, it is typically detected by an elevated serum creatinine.
When the kidneys malfunction, problems frequently encountered are abnormal fluid levels in the body, deranged acid levels, abnormal levels of potassium, calcium, phosphate, hematuria (blood in the urine) and (in the longer term) anemia.
The typical reference ranges are 0.5 to 1.0 mg/dL (about 45-90 μmol/l) for women and 0.7 to 1.2 mg/dL (60-110 μmol/l) for men.
More important than absolute creatinine level is the trend of serum creatinine levels over time.
ref:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renal_failure