Pediatric Acute Kidney Injury: Different From Acute Renal Failure, But How And Why?

Abstract

Acute kidney injury [AKI] refers to a clinical syndrome encompassing various etiologies and occurring in a variety of clinical settings, with manifestations ranging from subtle biochemical and structural changes, to minimal elevation in serum creatinine, to anuric renal failure. Understanding the spectrum of AKI and the importance of the early pre-clinical damage stage has resulted in an improved ability to define and stage pediatric AKI, to understand the AKI-to-CKD transition, and harness novel damage biomarkers to predict AKI and its adverse outcomes. These concepts are expanded upon in this review, with an emphasis on publications from the past three years.