Early Diagnosis in Acute Kidney Failure: Neutrophil Gelatinase Associated Lipocain (NGAL), Kidney Injury Molecule-1 (KIM-1), Interleukine-18 (IL-18), Cystatin C

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of renal biomarkers (NGAL, KIM-1, IL-18, and Cystatin-C) for the diagnosis of acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients in intensive care unit (ICU).Material and Method: We conducted our study in Istanbul University Istanbul Medical Faculty Intensive Care Unit. The duration of the study was planned to be one month, during this period, we included all consecutive patients who were older than 18 years of age and who stayed longer than 48 hours in our ICU. Twenty-four patients were included and 144 measurements were performed in these patients. Patients who had AKI at the admission, patients who had AKI during ICU stay and patients who never had AKI, were included to the study. Patients were divided into two groups; the first group was consisted of patients who never had AKI during ICU stay and it was considered as control group, the second group was consisted of patients who had AKI during ICU stay or patients who had AKI prior to ICU admission. NGAL, KIM-1, IL-18 and cystatin C levels were measured every day.Results: KIM-1 (p< 0.01), NGAL (p< 0.01), IL-18 (p< 0.05) and Cystatin-C (p< 0.01) levels were found significantly higher than their control groups for patients with AKI.Conclusion: Serum NGAL, IL-18, KIM-1 and Cystatin C were determined as valuable biomarkers to diagnose AKI for hospitalized ICU patients.