Cardio-renal syndromes: report from the consensus conference of the Acute Dialysis Quality Initiative

A consensus conference on cardio-renal syndromes (CRS) was held in Venice Italy, in September 2008 under the auspices of the Acute Dialysis Quality Initiative (ADQI). The following topics were matter of discussion after a systematic literature review and the appraisal of the best available evidence: definition/classification system; epidemiology; diagnostic criteria and biomarkers; prevention/protection strategies; management and therapy. The umbrella term CRS was used to identify a disorder of the heart and kidneys whereby acute or chronic dysfunction in one organ may induce acute or chronic dysfunction in the other organ. Different syndromes were identified and classified into five subtypes. Acute CRS (type 1): acute worsening of heart function (AHF–ACS) leading to kidney injury and/or dysfunction. Chronic cardio-renal syndrome (type 2): chronic abnormalities in heart function (CHF-CHD) leading to kidney injury and/or dysfunction. Acute reno-cardiac syndrome (type 3): acute worsening of kidney function (AKI) leading to heart injury and/or dysfunction. Chronic reno-cardiac syndrome (type 4): chronic kidney disease leading to heart injury, disease, and/or dysfunction. Secondary CRS (type 5): systemic conditions leading to simultaneous injury and/or dysfunction of heart and kidney. Consensus statements concerning epidemiology, diagnosis, prevention, and management strategies are discussed in the paper for each of the syndromes

Acute Kidney Injury in Iranian Children -What Do We Know About It? - Part 2

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is reversible deterioration of renal function in which waste products accumulate and fluid imbalance occurs. The epidemiology of AKI has been changing over years. The aim of this study was to evaluate the epidemiology of AKI in hospitalized children in Iran. A literature search from March 2000 to March 2014 was conducted through MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scholar.google, IranMedex, MagIran, SID, and manual reference search of identified articles. Retrospective and prospective cross-sectional studies with a clear definition of acute kidney injury or failure were included. Seven out of twenty three articles which were found met the criteria. The incidence of AKI declined from 36% (2006-2008) to 15.4% (2010-2011) in the PICU setting of three referral teaching hospitals in Tehran. According to the classification, 10% had pre-renal failure, 86% had intrinsic renal failure, and 4% had post-obstructive uropathy. Follow-up was limited to the days of hospitalization. The overall reported mortality rate was 18% in pediatric departments. Acute glomerulonephritis including hemolytic uremic syndrome was the most common underlying disease (46.5%). Acute tubular necrosis was reported in 33% of the cases. One third of the cases of acute renal failure occurred in children less than two years. The real incidence of acute kidney injury might be higher considering a unified standard definition. Acute glomerulonephritis and acute tubular necrosis comprised the majority of the etiologies. Keywords: Acute Kidney Injury; Middle East; Iran; Etiology; Child; Incidence; Review Systematic

An audit of acute kidney injury : a prospective study of the epidemiology, management and outcome of patients with acute kidney injury, over a 12 month period at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa

Includes bibliographical references.Introduction: Acute kidney injury results from a rapid decline in kidney function. There are many potential causes, some of which are preventable. It carries the risks of mortality, progression to chronic kidney disease and worsening of pre-existing chronic kidney disease. There is a scarcity of data on the epidemiology of acute kidney injury in sub-Saharan Africa. The aims of this study were to describe the epidemiology of acute kidney injury at Groote Schuur hospital, and factors associated with mortality and renal recovery. Methods: This was a prospective observational study of patients with acute kidney injury, referred to Groote Schuur Hospital Renal Unit from the 8th of July 2012 to the 8th of July 2013. Ethics approval was granted by the University of Cape Town Human Research Ethics Committee. We excluded patients younger than 13 years, kidney transplant patients, and those not fulfilling the consensus definition of acute kidney injury according to the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) group. Data on patient demographics, medical history, clinical observations, investigations, and cause of acute kidney injury was collected from a clerking sheet designed for the study. Patients were followed up at, or after 3 months (90 days) for assessment of survival and renal recovery. The main outcomes were recovery of renal function and mortality at 3 months. Data was entered into an Excel spreadsheet, and imported onto Stata 12.1 for analysis. Results: A total of 366 patients were included. The median age was 44 years (IQR 14-82). Of these 214 were male (58.5%). Referrals were from medical, surgical and obstetrics and gynaecology departments. The majority, 217 (59.3%) were medical referrals. Most, 265 (72.4%) had community acquired acute kidney injury. The majority of the 101 patients with hospital acquired acute kidney injury, 72 (71.3%) had severe, stage 3 acute kidney injury. Hypertension was the commonest co-morbidity, present in 152 (41.5%) of the patients. There were 75 (20.6%) HIV positive patients. Acute tubular necrosis was the most common cause of acute kidney injury, identified in 251 (68.6%) patients. Renal biopsies were carried out in 36 (9.8%) patients. More than half, 202 (55.2%), of the patients were in the intensive care unit, while 204 (55.7%) were dialysed. Fluid input was recorded in 140 patients (38.3%). Overall 3 month mortality was 38.8% (142 patients). Of the 224 surviving patients, 119 (53.1%) had a follow up serum creatinine. Of these, 95 (80.5%) had full renal recovery, and 4 (3.4%) went on to end stage renal disease. On multivariate analysis, mechanical ventilation was strongly associated with mortality at 3 months (OR 2.46, p-value 0.0 19, 95% CI 1.41-4.03). Sepsis had a borderline significant association with 3 month mortality (OR 1.83, P-value 0.066, 95%CI 1.02 – 3.27), as did prolonged time to dialysis (OR 1.93, p-value 0.080, 95% CI 0.93 – 4.03). HIV was not associated with mortality on univariate analysis (OR 1.07, p-value 0.801, 95%CI 0.64-1.80). Conclusions: Acute kidney injury carries a high mortality risk, most significant in mechanically ventilated patients. Sepsis and, in those dialysed, late dialysis, may be associated with a high risk of mortality. Efforts to reduce hospital acquired acute kidney injury and to improve patient fluid balance chart records should be made

Research-based versus clinical serum creatinine measurements and the association of acute kidney injury with subsequent kidney function: findings from the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort study.

Background:Observational studies relying on clinically obtained data have shown that acute kidney injury (AKI) is linked to accelerated chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression. However, prior reports lacked uniform collection of important confounders such as proteinuria and pre-AKI kidney function trajectory, and may be susceptible to ascertainment bias, as patients may be more likely to undergo kidney function testing after AKI. Methods:We studied 444 adults with CKD who participated in the prospective Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort (CRIC) Study and were concurrent members of a large integrated healthcare delivery system. We estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) trajectories using serum creatinine measurements from (i) the CRIC research protocol (yearly) and (ii) routine clinical care. We used linear mixed effects models to evaluate the associations of AKI with acute absolute change in eGFR and post-AKI eGFR slope, and explored whether these varied by source of creatinine results. Models were adjusted for demographic characteristics, diabetes status and albuminuria. Results:During median follow-up of 8.5 years, mean rate of eGFR loss was -0.31 mL/min/1.73 m2/year overall, and 73 individuals experienced AKI (55% Stage 1). A significant interaction existed between AKI and source of serum creatinine for acute absolute change in eGFR level after discharge; in contrast, AKI was independently associated with a faster rate of eGFR decline (mean additional loss of -0.67 mL/min/1.73 m2/year), which was not impacted by source of serum creatinine. Conclusions:AKI is independently associated with subsequent steeper eGFR decline regardless of the serum creatinine source used, but the strength of association is smaller than observed in prior studies after taking into account key confounders such as pre-AKI eGFR slope and albuminuria

Long Term Prognosis after Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) - What is the Role of Baseline Kidney Function and Recovery? A Systematic Review

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Urinary chitinase 3-like protein 1 for early diagnosis of acute kidney injury : a prospective cohort study in adult critically ill patients

Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) occurs frequently and adversely affects patient and kidney outcomes, especially when its severity increases from stage 1 to stages 2 or 3. Early interventions may counteract such deterioration, but this requires early detection. Our aim was to evaluate whether the novel renal damage biomarker urinary chitinase 3-like protein 1 (UCHI3L1) can detect AKI stage >= 2 more early than serum creatinine and urine output, using the respective Kidney Disease vertical bar Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) criteria for definition and classification of AKI, and compare this to urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (UNGAL). Methods: This was a translational single-center, prospective cohort study at the 22-bed surgical and 14-bed medical intensive care units (ICU) of Ghent University Hospital. We enrolled 181 severely ill adult patients who did not yet have AKI stage >= 2 based on the KDIGO criteria at time of enrollment. The concentration of creatinine (serum, urine) and CHI3L1 (serum, urine) was measured at least daily, and urine output hourly, in the period from enrollment till ICU discharge with a maximum of 7 ICU-days. The concentration of UNGAL was measured at enrollment. The primary endpoint was the development of AKI stage >= 2 within 12 h after enrollment. Results: After enrollment, 21 (12 %) patients developed AKI stage >= 2 within the next 7 days, with 6 (3 %) of them reaching this condition within the first 12 h. The enrollment concentration of UCHI3L1 predicted the occurrence of AKI stage >= 2 within the next 12 h with a good AUC-ROC of 0.792 (95 % CI: 0.726-0.849). This performance was similar to that of UNGAL (AUC-ROC of 0.748 (95 % CI: 0.678-0.810)). Also, the samples collected in the 24-h time frame preceding diagnosis of the 1st episode of AKI stage >= 2 had a 2.0 times higher (95 % CI: 1.3-3.1) estimated marginal mean of UCHI3L1 than controls. We further found that increasing UCHI3L1 concentrations were associated with increasing AKI severity. Conclusions: In this pilot study we found that UCHI3L1 was a good biomarker for prediction of AKI stage >= 2 in adult ICU patients

Proenkephalin, neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin, and estimated glomerular filtration rates in patients with sepsis

Background: Proenkephalin (PENK) has been suggested as a novel biomarker for kidney function. We investigated the diagnostic and prognostic utility of plasma PENK in comparison with neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) and estimated glomerular filtration rates (EGFR) in septic patients. Methods: A total of 167 septic patients were enrolled: 99 with sepsis, 37 with septic shock, and 31 with suspected sepsis. PENK and NGAL concentrations were measured and GFR was estimated by using the isotope dilution mass spectrometry traceable-Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) Study and three Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) equations: CKD-EPICr, CDK-EPICysC, and CKD-EPICr-CysC. The PENK, NGAL, and EGFR results were compared according to sepsis severity, presence or absence of acute kidney injury (AKI), and clinical outcomes. Results: The PENK, NGAL, and EGFR results were significantly associated with sepsis severity and differed significantly between patients with and without AKI only in the sepsis group (all P<0.05). PENK was superior to NGAL in predicting AKI (P=0.022) and renal replacement therapy (RRT) (P=0.0085). Regardless of the variable GFR category by the different EGFR equations, PENK showed constant and significant associations with all EGFR equations. Unlike NGAL, PENK was not influenced by inflammation and predicted the 30-day mortality. Conclusions: PENK is a highly sensitive and objective biomarker of AKI and RRT and is useful for prognosis prediction in septic patients. With its diagnostic robustness and predictive power for survival, PENK constitutes a promising biomarker in critical care settings including sepsis