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Acute kidney injury
Make it clearer
Acute kidney injury is a sudden drop in how well the kidneys are working. The word "injury" throws people off, because it makes you picture a blow, and no blow is needed here: it simply names that rapid change in the kidney's work, nothing more.
To recognize it, the clinical criteria follow two signs of that change. One is serum creatinine, the creatinine measured in the blood, which moves away from its usual values; the other is a drop in the amount of urine, like a faucet that suddenly barely drips. The definition can stand on just one of those signs or on both.
In brief
Acute kidney injury is an abrupt decrease in kidney function. In this term, injury refers to that rapid change in function; the definition does not require a physical blow to the kidneys.
Clinical criteria track two signs of that change: shifts in serum creatinine and reduced urine output. The definition can be based on either sign alone or on both.
Sources (2)
- Kidney Disease: Improving Global OutcomesKDIGO Clinical Practice Guideline for Acute Kidney Injury, Section 2: AKI DefinitionPublished
- StatPearls, NCBI BookshelfAcute Kidney InjuryPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
Updated