Objective:

To evaluatedevelopment of acute kidney injury (AKI) in intensive care unit (ICU) patients and serum cystatine C levels in the early prediction of AKI.

Material and Method:

This study was performed in ICU clinic of Istanbul University Faculty of Medicine, between June 2009 and May 2010. Patients, who stayed in ICU more than 24 hours and do not have histories of chronic renal failure and renal transplantation and who were older than 18 years were followed up due to development of AKI by AKI classification. Blood creatinine levels, cystatine C levels and 24 hours urine output values were followed-up.

Results:

In 48 patients included in the study, 14% developed AKI within first 24 hours. AKI was present in various degrees in 89.6% of all patients, while Stage III AKI was present in 4.1% of the patients after ICU stay. Positive correlation was present between serum creatinine and cystatine C levels; however there was no difference in terms of early diagnosis.

Conclusion:

Since AKI was developed very early in patients admitted to ICU, adequate information could not be obtained for cystatine C in the early prediction of the injury. Since serum cystatine C levels increase with the increase of level of AKI, follow-up of serum cystatine C levels may be quite valuable in the follow-up of AKI patients in ICU. However larger numbers of studies are required on this subject.

Keywords: Acute kidney injury, renal biomarker, intensive care unit