Authors: Fiaccadori E, Parenti E, Maggiore U
Acute kidney injury (AKI), at least in critically ill patients, seldom occurs as isolated organ failure. Much more often it emerges as a component of the multiple organ failure syndrome, within the framework of the severe and prolonged catabolic phase determined by critical illness, and intensified by specific derangements in substrate utilization due to the acute loss of kidney function. On these bases, patients with AKI often have protein-energy wasting (preexisting and/or hospital acquired), which represents a major negative prognostic factor. Thus, nutritional support is frequently required, under the form of parenteral and/or enteral nutrition, even though no formal demonstration exists for its favorable effect on major outcomes. The pr...