Acute kidney injury

Prevention

Preventing acute kidney injury

Those at risk of AKI should be monitored with regular blood tests if they become unwell or start new medication. It's also useful to check how much urine you're passing.

Any warning signs of AKI, such as vomiting or producing little urine, require immediate investigation for AKI and treatment. People who are dehydrated, or at risk of dehydration, may need to be given fluids via a drip.

Any medicine that seems to be making the problem worse, or directly damaging the kidneys needs to be stopped, at least temporarily.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has produced detailed guidelines on preventing, detecting and managing AKI.

Medically Reviewed by a doctor on 30 Nov 2016

Articles for acute kidney injury

Symptoms

In the early stages of AKI, there may not be any symptoms.The only possible warning sign may be that the person isn't producing much urine, although this isn't always the case.

Causes

Most cases of AKI are caused by reduced blood flow to the kidneys, usually in someone who is already unwell with another health condition.

Diagnosis

AKI can be diagnosed after measuring urine output and doing blood tests. Blood levels of creatinine a chemical waste product produced by the muscles will be measured. Healthy kidneys filter creatinine and other waste products from the blood and these are excreted, in the form of urine.

Treatment

Treatment of AKI depends on the underlying cause and extent of illness. In most cases, treating the underlying problem will cure the AKI. GPs may be able to manage mild cases in people who aren't already in hospital.

Prevention

Those at risk of AKI should be monitored with regular blood tests if they become unwell or start new medication. It's also useful to check how much urine you're passing.

Complications

Complications of an acute kidney injury need to be dealt with immediately in a hospital setting under rigorous medical supervision. Some of the complications are high levels of potassium in the blood, fluid in the lungs, etc.

Introduction

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is sudden damage to the kidneys that causes them to not work properly. It can range from minor loss of kidney function to complete kidney failure.

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