Acute Kidney Injury

Aims and Mission

The field of Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) has gathered increasing interest over the last years, both clinically and as a research topic. The number of abstracts submitted to the Annual Congresses of ESICM covering these issues have increased steadily. Based on 39 supporting members, ESICM has created a new Acute Kidney Injury section, making us the first society in the field of critical care to have formally recognised the important and growing field of AKI. To date, the AKI section has gathered roughly 50 voting members.

Chair and Deputy

Chair Michael Joannidis (Austria)

Deputy Eric Hoste (Belgium)

Activities

This new section has already exhibited many important achievements like the recent publication of recommendations on prevention of AKI and preservation of renal function in the intensive care unit in Intensive Care Medicine journal. Additionally, there is a large international study on the epidemiology of AKI in ICUs (AKI-EPI study) which is still recruiting centres. People interested in participating in this study should visit the webpage www.akiepi.org.

     In addition to renal replacement therapy the our section will concentrate on various aspects of AKI, pathophysiology, epidemiology, prevention and treatment of AKI, as well as associated issues like electrolyte and acid-base disturbances. A further point of interest will be extracorporeal purification techniques like plasmapheresis or albumin dialysis.

     All ESICM members interested in AKI are cordially invited to join this new section as members. Please write to Michael Joannidis.