New Review of Pediatric Acute Kidney Injury Diagnostic Tools and Practical Bedside Application
October 14, 2021
UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Division of Pediatric Nephrology faculty, Dana Y. Fuhrman, DO, MS, assistant professor Pediatrics and Critical Care Medicine, has published a new review article in the journal Pediatric Nephrology discussing the current research and development of predictive tools and biomarkers for pediatric acute kidney injury (AKI) that can provide recognition of the condition as it develops earlier in the processes.
AKI in the pediatric setting (as well as in adult patients) remains a condition for which definitive therapeutic approaches – curative or protective – remain elusive. A single AKI increases the risk for future AKI, and the effects of AKI on overall kidney health and progression to kidney disease are of significant clinical concern, particularly in vulnerable patient populations or those with underlying comorbid conditions.
Dr. Fuhrman's review, with an eye toward practical application at the bedside, discusses among other topics the current state of urinary and serum biomarkers research, stratification strategies, and models for predicting AKI risk in pediatric patient populations (e.g., critical care, congenital heart disease), and assessment of a patient's rental functional reserve and its impact on the progression of renal dysfunction or chronic kidney disease.
Reference
Read Dr. Fuhrman’s review at the following link.
Fuhrman DY. The Use of Diagnostic Tools for Pediatric AKI: Applying The Current Evidence to the Bedside. Pediatr Nephrol. 2021 Nov; 36(11): 3529-3537. Review.
About Dr. Fuhrman
Dana Y. Fuhrman, DO, MS, is an assistant professor of Critical Care Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She is an attending physician in the Division of Pediatric Nephrology at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, and she also currently serves as the associate program director of the Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Fellowship.
Dr. Fuhrman’s research interests are in the areas of AKI and continuous renal replacement therapy. Currently, her research focuses on the prevention and early detection of AKI in children. She is interested in studying renal reserve as defined by the difference in a baseline and a protein stimulated glomerular filtration rate. Dr. Fuhrman’s work seeks to better understand how children with lower renal reserve values are at a greater risk for AKI after cardiac surgery. Her work also involves investigations of cell cycle arrest biomarkers, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-2 and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 7, as a means to predict AKI risk and diagnose the condition earlier.
Learn more about Dr. Fuhrman's training and recently published research.
