Central vascular access indications in acute renal failure have never been precised by clinical studies. This is probably due to the epidemiology of acute renal failure and to heterogeneity of acute renal failure patients. Schematically, acute renal failure can be divided into three groups of increasing gravity: isolated non complicated acute renal failure, complicated acute renal failure, and severe acute renal failure that arises in the setting of multiple organ failure syndrome. Central vascular access indications, such as catheters type and vascular sites of insertion are actually based on many clinical and technical considerations. These considerations include the gravity of acute renal failure, the need of emergency extracorporeal renal replacement therapy, the modalities of such therapy, and the expected catheterism duration.