RECOGNITION AND ASSESSMENT
- Contrast Associated Acute Kidney Injury (CA-AKI) is approximately 12% of all cases of hospital-acquired renal failure; defined when one of the following criteria is met:
- serum creatinine rises >26 micromole/L within 48 hr
- serum creatinine rises 1.5 fold from baseline value, which is known or presumed to have occurred within 1 week
- urine output is <0.5 mL/kg/hr for >6 consecutive hr
- If a baseline serum creatinine within 1 week is not available, use the lowest creatinine value recorded within 3 months of episode of AKI
- Creatinine typically peaks 3–5 days after contrast administration
- returns to baseline within 2 weeks
- Only one in 200 patients requires renal replacement therapy
- AKI alert will be generated on all inpatients who have U&E and measure in line with the NHS England safety alert (June 2014)
IMMEDIATE TREATMENT
- No specific treatment
- Management is supportive. See Acute Kidney Injury: management guideline
Last reviewed: 2025-10-08