Pediatric acute kidney injury

What is a pediatric acute kidney injury?

Acute (sudden) kidney injury, formerly called acute renal failure, occurs when a kidney is damaged suddenly due to an illness or condition – not because of a blow or injury to a kidney as the name might suggest. It’s a sudden onset of kidney failure that can happen within a few hours or days.

What are the signs and symptoms of a pediatric acute kidney injury?

• Abdominal pain

• Chest pain or pressure

• Confusion

• Dehydration

• Fatigue

• Fluid buildup in body

• High blood pressure

• Infrequent urination

• Nausea

• Epilepsy/Seizures

• Shortness of breath

• Slight backache

• Swelling in legs, ankles and around the eyes

What are the causes of a pediatric acute kidney injury?

Slow blood flow caused by:

• Blood or fluid loss

• Burns

• Heart attack or heart failure

• Low blood pressure

• Major surgery

• Organ failure

• Overuse of NSAID pain medicines (ibuprofen, ketoprofen, naproxen)

• Severe allergic reactions

Conditions:

• Certain kidney diseases or conditions, including hemolytic uremic syndrome

• Multiple myeloma cancer (cancerous plasma cells)

• Scleroderma (diseases that affect connective tissues that support internal organs)

• Sepsis (life-threatening infection)

• Inflamed blood vessels, or "vasculitis", which can scar blood vessels, making them stiff, weak and narrow

Blockage of the urinary tract caused by:

• Blood clots in the urinary tract

• Cancer

• Kidney stones

• Nervous system problems that affect the bladder