Medication-induced acute kidney injury.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The present article will review the current state of our understanding of nephrotoxic medication-associated acute kidney injury (AKI) and provide strategies to reduce its impact.

RECENT FINDINGS: Nephrotoxic medications contribute to a substantial proportion of AKI in hospitalized patients. The previous perspective of nephrotoxic medication-associated AKI as a nonmodifiable necessary evil of providing appropriate therapy to ill patients had led to an incomplete understanding of its epidemiology and provided little impetus to reduce its occurrence.

SUMMARY: Recent work on understanding specific combinations, thresholds for nephrotoxic burden and systematic kidney function assessment had mitigated, and even in some cases reduced, nephrotoxic AKI rates and severity. Current initiatives are underway to further refine specific nephrotoxic medication AKI risk via novel urinary biomarkers and genetic susceptibility.