Prevention of acute kidney injury in Intensive Care Units.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a growing concern in Intensive Care Units. The advanced age of our patients, with the increase in associated morbidity and the complexity of the treatments provided favor the development of AKI. Since no effective treatment for AKI is available, all efforts are aimed at prevention and early detection of the disorder in order to establish secondary preventive measures to impede AKI progression. In critical patients, the most frequent causes are sepsis and situations that result in renal hypoperfusion; preventive measures are therefore directed at securing hydration and correct hemodynamics through fluid perfusion and the use of inotropic or vasoactive drugs, according to the underlying disease condition. Apart from these circumstances, a number of situations could lead to AKI, related to the administration of nephrotoxic drugs, intra-tubular deposits, the administration of iodinated contrast media, liver failure and major surgery (mainly heart surgery). In these cases, in addition to hydration, there are other specific preventive measures adapted to each condition.

Acute kidney injury: Renal disease in the ICU.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) in the ICU frequently requires costly supportive therapies, has high morbidity, and its long-term prognosis is not as good as it has been presumed so far. Consequently, AKI generates a significant burden for the healthcare system. The problem is that AKI lacks an effective treatment and the best approach relies on early secondary prevention. Therefore, to facilitate early diagnosis, a broader definition of AKI should be established, and a marker with more sensitivity and early-detection capacity than serum creatinine - the most common marker of AKI - should be identified. Fortunately, new classification systems (RIFLE, AKIN or KDIGO) have been developed to solve these problems, and the discovery of new biomarkers for kidney injury will hopefully change the way we approach renal patients. As a first step, the concept of renal failure has changed from being a "static" disease to being a "dynamic process" that requires continuous evaluation of kidney function adapted to the reality of the ICU patient.

Prevention of acute kidney injury in Intensive Care Units / Prevención de la lesión renal aguda en las unidades de cuidados intensivos

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a growing concern in Intensive Care Units. The advanced age of our patients, with the increase in associated morbidity and the complexity of the treatments provided favor the development of AKI. Since no effective treatment for AKI is available, all efforts are aimed at prevention and early detection of the disorder in order to establish secondary preventive measures to impede AKI progression. In critical patients, the most frequent causes are sepsis and situations that result in renal hypoperfusion; preventive measures are therefore directed at securing hydration and correct hemodynamics through fluid perfusion and the use of inotropic or vasoactive drugs, according to the underlying disease condition. Apart from these circumstances, a number of situations could lead to AKI, related to the administration of nephrotoxic drugs, intra-tubular deposits, the administration of iodinated contrast media, liver failure and major surgery (mainly heart surgery). In these cases, in addition to hydration, there are other specific preventive measures adapted to each condition

La lesión renal aguda (LRA) constituye un problema de importancia creciente en las unidades de cuidados intensivos. La mayor edad de nuestros pacientes, con el aumento de la morbilidad asociada, y la complejidad de los tratamientos realizados favorecen su desarrollo. Puesto que la LRA carece de tratamiento eficaz, todos los esfuerzos se dirigen a la prevención y a su detección precoz con el fin de establecer medidas de prevención secundaria que impidan su progresión. En el paciente crítico, las causas más frecuentemente implicadas son la sepsis y las situaciones que provocan hipoperfusión renal, por lo que las medidas preventivas irán encaminadas a mantener un estado de hidratación y hemodinámico correcto mediante perfusión de fluidos y el uso de fármacos inotrópicos o vasoactivos en función de la enfermedad subyacente. Además de estas circunstancias, existen distintas situaciones que pueden favorecer la LRA, relacionadas con la administración de fármacos nefrotóxicos, los depósitos intratubulares, la administración de contrastes iodados, el fallo hepático y la cirugía mayor, fundamentalmente cirugía cardiaca. En estos casos, además de la hidratación, se dispone de otros aspectos preventivos específicos de cada entidad

Acute kidney injury: Renal disease in the ICU / Lesión renal aguda: nefropatía en la UCI

Acute kidney injury (AKI) in the ICU frequently requires costly supportive therapies, has high morbidity, and its long-term prognosis is not as good as it has been presumed so far. Consequently, AKI generates a significant burden for the healthcare system. The problem is that AKI lacks an effective treatment and the best approach relies on early secondary prevention. Therefore, to facilitate early diagnosis, a broader definition of AKI should be established, and a marker with more sensitivity and early-detection capacity than serum creatinine - the most common marker of AKI - should be identified. Fortunately, new classification systems (RIFLE, AKIN or KDIGO) have been developed to solve these problems, and the discovery of new biomarkers for kidney injury will hopefully change the way we approach renal patients. As a first step, the concept of renal failure has changed from being a ‘static’ disease to being a ‘dynamic process’ that requires continuous evaluation of kidney function adapted to the reality of the ICU patient

El tratamiento de lesiones renales agudas (LRA) en la UCI requiere habitualmente procedimientos complementarios costosos, se asocia a una elevada morbilidad y su pronóstico a largo plazo no es tan bueno como se creía hasta ahora. En consecuencia, las LRA ocasionan una importante carga para el sistema sanitario. El problema es que no existe un tratamiento eficaz para las LRA y el mejor enfoque se basa en la prevención secundaria precoz. Por consiguiente, para facilitar el diagnóstico precoz, es necesario establecer una definición más amplia de la LRA así como identificar un marcador con mayor sensibilidad y capacidad de diagnóstico precoz que la creatinina sérica (el marcador más habitual de LRA en la actualidad). Afortunadamente, se han desarrollado nuevos sistemas de clasificación (RIFLE, AKIN o KDIGO) para solucionar este problema y se espera que el descubrimiento de nuevos biomarcadores de lesión renal cambie la forma en que abordamos el tratamiento de los pacientes con nefropatía. Como primer paso, el concepto de insuficiencia renal ha pasado de considerarse una enfermedad «estática» a un «proceso dinámico» que requiere una evaluación continua de la función renal adaptada a la realidad del paciente en la UCI