Acute kidney injury affects hospitalized patient

• May 11, 2024

Acute kidney injury occurs in patients undergoing high-risk surgery who are in intensive care or who will receive some contrast medium for a particular study, for example, chemotherapy with cisplatin.

This condition causes chronic kidney disease, which represents a global health problem. About 80 thousand patients in Mexico are in a terminal state of the disease, so timely intervention may delay and prevent its onset.

In general, from five to 10% of all patients who are hospitalized may suffer acute kidney injury and when it occurs in intensive care, up to 50% of them may die from this cause.

The doctor Norma Bobadilla Sandoval, of the Institute of Biomedical Research of the UNAM He noted that it is important to find treatments that prevent acute kidney injury.

It was thought that once this problem was solved there was no further consequence; however, epidemiological studies conducted in 2008 showed that the person who suffered it can develop chronic kidney injury.

Likewise, a study published this year showed that patients who recover their kidney function completely after having suffered acute kidney injury can develop the chronic stage, a situation that has led researchers to look for the mechanisms and the origin of this.

The specialist, who has been working with this condition for a decade, explained that acute kidney injury is characterized by a drop in blood flow, that is, less oxygen reaches the renal tissue, one of the most damaged segments being the tubular epithelium where it forms urine.

In order to bring basic research to the well-being of patients, the research group of Dr. Bobadilla Sandoval started two clinical studies: one in collaboration with the Children's Hospital of Mexico Federico Gómez and another with the National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition Salvador Zubirán (INCMNSZ), institution in which he also collaborates.

In the Infantil de México, she works together with Dr. Mara Medeiros in a two-year protocol with 20 children.

The first results have shown that those who received a specific treatment, which they have suggested, have better kidney function than those who did not receive it and continue to provide them cyclosporine (immunosuppressive drug that is commonly used in these cases).

At INCMNSZ, together with Dr. Luis Eduardo Morales, they work with patients who will receive a kidney transplant.

The premise of this project is that when a tissue is going to be transplanted, the kidney suffers periods of ischemia (a condition that prevents blood from reaching the organs and tissues of the body). This work is being applied and it is expected to give results as soon as possible.

To conclude, Dr. Norma Bobadilla stressed that it is important to find mechanisms at the molecular level of acute kidney injury, develop new therapies that block the action of the aldosterone, as well as preventing the onset of the chronic stage, in addition to that it should seek to direct basic research for the benefit of patients.
 

Video Medicine: Mayo Clinic-Led Study Identifies Biomarkers for Early Risk Assessment of Acute Kidney Injury (May 2024).