People who have experienced AKI are at increased risk of developing chronic kidney disease in the future. Management includes treatment of the underlying cause and supportive care, such as renal replacement therapy. Signs and symptoms
The clinical presentation is often dominated by the underlying cause. The various symptoms of acute kidney injury result from the various disturbances of kidney function that are associated with the disease. Accumulation of urea and other nitrogen-containing substances in the bloodstream lead to a number of symptoms, such as fatigue, loss of appetite, headache, nausea, and vomiting. Marked increases in the potassium level can lead to abnormal heart rhythms, which can be severe and life-threatening. Fluid balance is frequently affected, though blood pressure can be high, low, or normal.Pain in the flanks may be encountered in some conditions (such as clotting of the kidneys blood vessels or inflammation of the kidney). This is the result of stretching of the fibrous tissue capsule surrounding the kidney. If the kidney injury is the result of dehydration, there may be thirst as well as evidence of fluid depletion on physical examination. Physical examination may also provide other clues as to the underlying cause of the kidney problem, such as a rash in interstitial nephritis (or vasculitis) and a palpable bladder in obstructive nephropathy. Causes
Prerenal
Prerenal causes of AKI ("pre-renal azotemia") are those that decrease effective blood flow to the kidney and cause a decrease in the glomerular filtration rate (GFR).
Both kidneys need to be affected as one kidney is still more than adequate for normal kidney function. Notable causes of prerenal AKI include low blood volume (e.g., dehydration), low blood pressure, heart failure (leading to cardiorenal syndrome), hepatorenal syndrome in the context of liver cirrhosis, and local changes to the blood vessels supplying the kidney. The latter include renal artery stenosis, or the narrowing of the renal artery which supplies the kidney with blood, and renal vein thrombosis, which is the formation of a blood clot in the renal vein that drains blood from the kidney. Intrinsic or renal
Intrinsic AKI refers to disease processes which directly damage the kidney itself. Intrinsic AKI can be due to one or more of the kidneys structures including the glomeruli, kidney tubules, or the interstitium. Common causes of each are glomerulonephritis, acute tubular necrosis (ATN), and acute interstitial nephritis (AIN), respectively. Other causes of intrinsic AKI are rhabdomyolysis and tumor lysis syndrome. Certain medication classes such as calcineurin inhibitors (e.g., tacrolimus) can also directly damage the tubular cells of the kidney and result in a form of intrinsic AKI. Postrenal
Postrenal AKI refers to acute kidney injury caused by disease states downstream of the kidney and most often occurs as a consequence of urinary tract obstruction. This may be related to benign prostatic hyperplasia, kidney stones, obstructed urinary catheter, bladder stones, or cancer of the bladder, ureters, or prostate. Diagnosis
Definition
Introduced by the KDIGO in 2012, specific criteria exist for the diagnosis of AKI.