European Registry of Dialysis Treatment of Pediatric Acute Kidney Injury (AKI)

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a frequent clinical condition in hospitalized, in particular, in critically ill children. Moreover, AKI is an independent predictor of mortality. An incidence of AKI in pediatric intensive care units (PICU) between 10 and 62% has been reported in recent clinical trials adopting pRIFLE or AKIN criteria, with the highest risk present in cardiac surgery patients. Despite significant developments in the management of AKI, the overall mortality rate of patients with AKI has not improved significantly. Currently, there is no consensus concerning the optimum dialysis modalities to adopt in pediatric AKI. No studies have prospectively compared the efficacy of different types of RRT for pediatric AKI. While PD remains the most commonly used modality in children worldwide, over the last decade CRRT has become the preferred treatment modality for critically ill children with AKI in North America. The investigators have recently conducted a survey among 34 European Pediatric Nephrology Centers in the ESCAPE Network to obtain current information on dialysis management practices in children. Approximately 900 children with AKI requiring dialysis are managed at these 34 centers per year. This number supports the creation of a prospective European AKI registry.