pre-renal azotemia

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is costly and is associated with increased mortality and morbidity. An understanding of the renal physiologic changes that occur during pregnancy is essential for proper evaluation, diagnosis, and management of AKI. As in the general population, AKI can occur from prerenal, intrinsic, and post-renal causes. Major causes of pre-renal azotemia include hyperemesis gravidarum and uterine hemorrhage in the setting of placental abruption. Intrinsic etiologies include infections from acute pyelonephritis and septic abortion, bilateral cortical necrosis, and acute tubular necrosis...

Sarcoidosis is a chronic multisystemic inflammatory disorder of unknown etiology, characterized by the presence of non-necrotizing epithelioid and giant cell granulomas. Various renal manifestations have been reported in patients with sarcoidosis. Disorders of bone and mineral metabolism related to the overexpression of 25-hydroxyvitamin-D1α-hydroxylase by alveolar and granuloma macrophages are frequently associated with sarcoidosis. Hypercalcemia and hypercalciuria are a major cause of renal injury predisposing to pre renal azotemia, acute tubular necrosis, nephrolithiasis and nephrocalcinosis...

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of acute peritoneal dialysis (PD) and clinical outcomes in neonates with acute kidney injury (AKI) and hypernatremic dehydration. ♢ METHODS: The medical records of 15 neonates with AKI and hypernatremic dehydration who were treated with acute PD were reviewed. The diagnoses were AKI with hypernatremic dehydration with or without sepsis in 13 patients and AKI with hypernatremia and congenital nephropathy in 2 patients...

Acute kidney injury (AKI), defined as an abrupt increase in the serum creatinine level by at least 0.3 mg/dL, occurs in about 20% of patients hospitalized for decompensating liver cirrhosis. Patients with cirrhosis are susceptible to developing AKI because of the progressive vasodilatory state, reduced effective blood volume and stimulation of vasoconstrictor hormones. The most common causes of AKI in cirrhosis are pre-renal azotemia, hepatorenal syndrome and acute tubular necrosis. Differential diagnosis is based on analysis of circumstances of AKI development, natriuresis, urine osmolality, response to withdrawal of diuretics and volume repletion, and rarely on renal biopsy...

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Impairment of kidney function is common in cirrhosis but differential diagnosis remains a challenge. We aimed at assessing the usefulness of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), a biomarker of tubular damage, in the differential diagnosis of impairment of kidney function in cirrhosis. METHODS: Two-hundred and forty-one patients with cirrhosis, 72 without ascites, 85 with ascites, and 84 with impaired kidney function, were studied...

Hepatorenal syndrome (HRS) is a pre-renal azotemia-like acute renal failure occurring in patients with end-stage cirrhosis. HRS results from arteriolar vasodilatation, arteriolar underfilling, and intense renal vasoconstriction. By definition, it is not responsive to volume expansion, and the prognosis is especially poor even with the use of terlipressin or albumin dialysis or both. It may be difficult, on the basis of the current criteria, to clearly differentiate HRS from other causes of acute renal failure in cirrhosis...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is common in critically ill patients and is associated with a high mortality rate. Pre-renal azotemia, suggested by a high blood urea nitrogen to serum creatinine (BUN:Cr) ratio (BCR), has traditionally been associated with a better prognosis than other forms of AKI. Whether this pertains to critically ill patients is unknown. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective observational study of two cohorts of critically ill patients admitted to a single center: a derivation cohort, in which AKI was diagnosed, and a larger validation cohort...

AIMS: Rotavirus gastroenteritis is severe and often results in dehydration and pre-renal azotemia. However, we have encountered four children with acute obstructive uropathy associated with acute rotavirus gastroenteritis, and several similar cases have been reported. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to clarify the epidemiology and clinical features of acute obstructive uropathy associated with acute rotavirus gastroenteritis in Japanese children. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We sent questionnaires to all members of the Japanese Society for Nephrology and all authors who had published case reports of this disease in Japan, inquiring about patient age at diagnosis, sex, the type of stones, laboratory data and other factors...

INTRODUCTION: Data concerning the spectrum of acute kidney injury (AKI) in Egypt are scarce. The study aims to describe the spectrum of AKI in a tertiary hospital in Cairo. METHODS: We retrospectively collected the data of all cases of AKI who were treated at Dar El Shefa Hospital, Cairo, Egypt, from January 2006 to January 2007. RESULTS: There were 51 cases of AKI during the study period (29 males and 22 females). Their age ranged from 19 to 81 years with a mean of 48 years...

While the fractional excretion of solutes have long been considered excellent research tools to investigate tubular physiology, their clinical use has become common over the last 40 years in the diagnoses of many disorders; however, none have reached the clinical utility of the fractional excretion of sodium in the ability to distinguish pre-renal azotemia from acute tubular necrosis. Nevertheless, there are many drugs and medical conditions that interfere with that utility and recently other solutes, including urea, uric acid and lithium, have been recently investigated to improve the diagnostic ability in clinical situations where the fractional excretion of sodium is known to be unreliable...

INTRODUCTION: Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a proinflammatory cytokine that increases early in the serum of patients with acute kidney injury (AKI). The aim of this study was to determine whether urine IL-6 is an early biomarker of AKI and determine the source of urine IL-6. Numerous proteins, including cytokines, are filtered by the glomerulus and then endocytosed and metabolized by the proximal tubule. Since proximal tubule injury is a hallmark of AKI, we hypothesized that urine IL-6 would increase in AKI due to impaired proximal tubule metabolism of filtered IL-6...

INTRODUCTION: Colchicine is used mainly for the treatment and prevention of gout and for familial Mediterranean fever (FMF). It has a narrow therapeutic index, with no clear-cut distinction between nontoxic, toxic, and lethal doses, causing substantial confusion among clinicians. Although colchicine poisoning is sometimes intentional, unintentional toxicity is common and often associated with a poor outcome. METHODS: We performed a systematic review by searching OVID MEDLINE between 1966 and January 2010...

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is common in hospitalized patients and its associated mortality is high. The causes of AKI are commonly divided into 3 groups: pre-renal, intra-renal, and post-renal. According to this paradigm, pre-renal azotemia (PRA) represents a separate entity characterized by a rapidly reversible increase in serum creatinine and urea concentration. This rapid reversibility is believed to reflect a functional reduction in glomerular filtration rate as opposed to established structural kidney injury, which leads to acute tubular necrosis (ATN)...

BACKGROUND: The occurrence of deteriorating renal function test results along with the attempts at diuresis of anasarca has been described but not named, and no solution other than the standard treatment of related medical conditions such as congestive heart failure (CHF) and reducing or stopping diuretics has been offered. Phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PD5I) are known to reduce pulmonary hypertension (PH). The PD5Is sildenafil and, just recently, tadalafil, have FDA indications in primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH)...

OBJECTIVE: To determine the etiology and outcome of Acute Renal Failure (ARF) in pregnancy. STUDY DESIGN: A case series. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Nephrology Department of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi, from August 2007 to July 2008. METHODOLOGY: Pregnant women who were healthy previously and had developed ARF, diagnosed on oliguria (urine output <400 ml/day) and mounting azotemia (serum creatinine > 2 mg%) were included in the study...

BACKGROUND: The fractional excretion of urea (FeUrea) may result in more reliable in the determination of renal function than sodium in the presence of oliguric azotemia; however, its usefulness remains controversial, perhaps due to an evolving understanding of urea transport within the kidney. METHODS: This was a prospective observational study of 100 consecutive patients referred to the nephrology service for azotemic oliguria. Multiple clinical variables were analyzed to determine variables responsible for the differences between the FeUrea and fractional excretion of sodium (FeNa) in the ability to distinguish pre-renal azotemia from intrinsic renal disease...

Acute renal failure (ARF) is encountered in neonatal care where it may be associated with significant morbidities. Pre-renal failure, which is due to impaired renal tissue perfusion, is the commonest type of ARF. It is amenable to treatment with excellent prognosis following prompt diagnosis and timely institution of appropriate intervention. Unfortunately, ARF in the newborn is usually asymptomatic and it is only suspected when a newborn infant has not been observed to pass urine over several hours or when serum Creatinine is observed to be elevated or rising...

BACKGROUND: With an aging population, more patients might be treated for atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis (ARAS). The goal of this treatment is to achieve a dialysis-free life or a well-controlled blood pressure with reduced risks of cardiovascular complications. PURPOSE: To analyze the clinical outcome of percutaneous transluminal renal artery angioplasty without stenting (PTRA) or with stenting (PTRS) for ARAS at one center. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study group comprised 152 patients who underwent 203 PTRA/PTRS...

Hyperthyroidism can mask co-existing chronic kidney disease (CKD). Previous studies showed that post-treatment renal azotemia can be predicted by pre-treatment assessment of glomerular filtration rate (GFR). We hypothesized that treatment of hyperthyroidism may have different effects on glomerular and tubular function and these changes might be predicted by additional pre-treatment variables than GFR. Serum total T4 (TT4), creatinine and blood urea nitrogen (BUN), blood pressure (BP), body weight (BW), GFR, urine specific gravity (USG), urinary protein/creatinine ratio (UPC) and retinol binding protein/creatinine ratio (uRBP/c) were evaluated before and 1, 4, 12 and 24 weeks post-treatment with radioiodine ((131)I) in 21 non-azotemic hyperthyroid cats...

BACKGROUND: Significant renal artery stenosis (RAS) in a solitary functioning kidney (SFK) represents one of the most acceptable indications for renal revascularization. Percutaneous transluminal renal artery stenting (PTRAS) is increasingly being used as a first line treatment for renal revascularization, associated with renal function improvement or stabilization in the majority of the patients with solitary kidneys, but also with deterioration in up to 38% of the cases. Atheroembolism during PTRAS has been postulated as a potential cause for this acute renal function worsening...