Hemodiafiltration in Acute Kidney Injury

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of the most important complications during hospitalization, especially in critically ill patients. Recent data demonstrated that certain biomarkers including pro-inflammatory cytokines are associated with high morbidity and mortality. These biomarkers, most of which have middle molecular weight, and protein-bound uremic toxins are limitedly removed by diffusion mechanism in conventional hemodialysis. Hemodiafiltration (HDF), a new modality that combines convective clearance with diffusion, could effectively enhance removal of middle molecule and protein-bound solutes. Therefore, HDF is increasingly used in several AKI settings such as septic AKI, rhabdomyolysis-associated AKI, myeloma cast nephropathy, and contrast-induced AKI. This chapter summarizes the available HDF techniques including intermittent and continuous modes, and clinical data comprise the benefits of HDF on biomarkers and renal as well as cardiovascular outcomes. Additionally, the topic provides the proposed future directions of HDF in various AKI settings

Predictors of post‐hospitalization recovery of renal function among patients with acute kidney injury requiring dialysis

Introduction: Acute kidney injury (AKI) requiring dialysis complicates 1% of all hospital admissions, and up to 30% of survivors will still require dialysis at hospital discharge. There is a paucity of data to describe the postdischarge outcomes or to guide evidence‐based dialysis management of this vulnerable population.Methods: Single‐center, retrospective analysis of 100 consecutive patients with AKI who survived to hospital discharge and required outpatient dialysis. Data collection included baseline characteristics, hospitalization characteristics, and outpatient dialysis treatment variables. Primary outcome was dialysis independence 90 days after discharge.Findings: Overall, 43% of patients recovered adequate renal function to discontinue dialysis, with the majority recovering within 30 days post discharge. Worse baseline renal function was associated with lower likelihood of renal recovery. In the first week postdischarge, patients with subsequent nonrecovery of renal function had greater net fluid removal (5.3 vs. 4.1 L, P = 0.037), higher ultrafiltration rates (6.0 vs. 4.7 mL/kg/h, P = 0.041) and more frequent intradialytic hypotension (24.6% vs. 9.3% with 3 or more episodes, P = 0.049) compared to patients that later recovered.Discussion: A significant proportion of AKI survivors will recover renal function following discharge. Outpatient intradialytic factors may influence subsequent renal function recovery.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141286/1/hdi12545.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141286/2/hdi12545_am.pd

Does oral sodium bicarbonate therapy improve function and quality of life in older patients with chronic kidney disease and low-grade acidosis (the BiCARB trial)? Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Date of acceptance: 01/07/2015 © 2015 Witham et al. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Acknowledgements UK NIHR HTA grant 10/71/01. We acknowledge the financial support of NHS Research Scotland in conducting this trial.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Strategies to Enhance Rehabilitation after Acute Kidney Injury in the Developing World

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is independently associated with new onset chronic kidney disease (CKD), end-stage kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, and all-cause mortality. However, only a minority of patients receive follow-up care after an episode of AKI in the developing world, and the optimal strategies to promote rehabilitation after AKI are ill-defined. On this background, a working group of the 18th Acute Dialysis Quality Initiative (ADQI) applied the consensus-building process informed by a PubMed review of English language articles to address questions related to rehabilitation after AKI. The consensus statements propose that all patients should be offered follow-up within three months of an AKI episode, with more intense follow-up (e.g., < one month) considered based upon patient risk factors, characteristics of the AKI event, and the degree of kidney recovery. Patients should be monitored for renal and non-renal events post-AKI, and we suggest the minimum level of monitoring consist of an assessment of kidney function and proteinuria within three months of the AKI episode. Care should be individualized for higher risk patients, particularly patients who are still dialysis-dependent to promote renal recovery. While evidence-based treatments for survivors of AKI are lacking and some outcomes may not be modifiable, we recommend simple interventions such as lifestyle changes, medication reconciliation, blood pressure control, and education, including the documentation of AKI on the patient’s medical record. In conclusion, survivors of AKI represent a high-risk population and these consensus statements should provide clinicians with guidance on the care of patients after an episode of AKI

International criteria for acute kidney injury: advantages and remaining challenges

• Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) is defined using widely accepted international criteria that are based on changes in serum creatinine concentration and degree of oliguria. • AKI, when defined in this way, has a strong association with poor patient outcomes, including high mortality rates and longer hospital admissions with increased resource utilisation and subsequent chronic kidney disease. • The detection of AKI using current criteria can assist with AKI diagnosis and stratification of individual patient risk. • The diagnosis of AKI requires clinical judgement to integrate the definition of AKI with the clinical situation, to determine underlying cause of AKI, and to take account of factors that may affect performance of current definitions

Urine/Plasma Neutrophil Gelatinase Associated Lipocalin Ratio Is a Sensitive and Specific Marker of Subclinical Acute Kidney Injury in Mice

Background Detection of acute kidney injury (AKI) is still a challenge if conventional markers of kidney function are within reference range. We studied the sensitivity and specificity of NGAL as an AKI marker at different degrees of renal ischemia. Methods Male C57BL/6J mice were subjected to 10-, 20- or 30-min unilateral renal ischemia, to control operation or no operation, and AKI was evaluated 1 day later by histology, immunohistochemistry, BUN, creatinine, NGAL (plasma and urine) and renal NGAL mRNA expression. Results A short (10-min) ischemia did not alter BUN or kidney histology, but elevated plasma and urinary NGAL level and renal NGAL mRNA expression although to a much smaller extent than longer ischemia. Surprisingly, control operation elevated plasma NGAL and renal NGAL mRNA expression to a similar extent as 10-min ischemia. Further, the ratio of urine to plasma NGAL was the best parameter to differentiate a 10-min ischemic injury from control operation, while it was similar in the non and control-operated groups. Conclusions These results suggest that urinary NGAL excretion and especially ratio of urine to plasma NGAL are sensitive and specific markers of subclinical acute kidney injury in mice