Evaluation of serial measurement of urinary L-FABP for acute kidney injury patients admitted to intensive care unit

Abstract

Acute kidney injury (AKI) remarkably increases mortality of critically ill patients treated in intensive care unit (ICU). Recently, several biomarkers have been developed for the early detection of AKI. There are few reports which evaluate the serial measurement of new biomarkers. Urinary L-type fatty acid-binding protein (L-FABP) as a new biomarker of AKI has approved to be reimbursement since 2011 in Japan. We prospectively studied 274 adult critically ill patients, 159 (58.0%) of whom were diagnosed as AKI. Urinary L-FABP was measured at ICU admission and 24 hours later. The minimum of urinary L-FABP is the most useful for detecting the worsening AKI and severe AKI requiring CHDF. These results show that serial measurement of urinary L-FABP can contribute to predict the poor outcomes of AKI in ICU patients.