| [ Summary ] |
Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a clinical syndrome that includes a broad spectrum of kidney injury and is defined as "a sudden loss of kidney function". Previously, acute renal failure (ARF), a severe form of acute renal dysfunction, received a great deal of attention from the medical fraternity. However, it has recently been recognized that even acute, relatively mild and reversible renal dysfunction adversely affects renal prognosis and overall life prognosis. No unified diagnostic criteria and/or clinical definitions are available for ARF. Therefore, the Risk, Injury, Failure, Loss, End-Stage Kidney Disease and the Acute Kidney Injury Network criteria were reported in 2004 and 2007, respectively. The Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) criteria were reported in 2012 as standardized criteria for AKI. We outline the KDIGO criteria and precautions associated with the diagnosis of AKI. |