Clearance and beyond: the complementary roles of GFR measurement and injury biomarkers in acute kidney injury (AKI)

Abstract

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common and frequently fatal illness in critically ill patients. The reliance on daily measurements of serum creatinine as a surrogate of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) not only delays diagnosis and development of successful therapies but also hinders insight into the pathophysiology of human AKI. Measurement of GFR under non-steady-state conditions remains an elusive gold standard against which biomarkers of renal injury need to be judged. Approaches to the rapid (near real-time) measurement of GFR are explored. Even if real-time GFR was available, absent baseline information will always limit diagnosis of AKI based on GFR or serum creatinine to a detection of change. Biomarkers of renal cellular injury have provided new strategies to facilitate detection and early intervention in AKI. However, the diagnostic and predictive performance of urinary biomarkers of injury vary, depending on both the time after renal injury and on the preinjury GFR. Progress in understanding the role of each novel biomarker in the causal pathways of AKI promises to enhance their diagnostic potential. We predict that combining rapid measures of GFR with biomarkers of renal injury will yield substantive progress in the treatment of AKI.