Hello! Thanks for being with us. There are two main types of kidney insult 1.acute 2.chronic. This can be easily distinguished if you have previous serum creatinine levels.If previous creatinine levels were normal and you have been started with new onset symptoms like fever,abdominal pain,oliguria,burning or pus in urine or any new drugs has been started for other reason then it could be an acute kidney injury. Acute kidney injury can be successfully treated but this problem may be the start of chronic renal failure. If you are suffering from any chronic illness like hypertension,diabetes,poly cystic kidney disease,renal artery stenosis and your serum creatinine levels were high last time also then its likely to be a chronic renal failure. There are lots of causes of acute and chronic kidney failure hence its better to have an urgent nephrologist opinion as creatinine of 10.4 can be life threatening,may lead to complications like hyperkalemia,azotemia,uremia and you may need dialysis too. If you could have provided other lab findings like hemoglobin level,calcium,phosphorous,usg of kidney bladder ureter,blood pressure and sugar levels then i could have answered in more detail. Anyways your further queries are most welcome and wish you better health .