Today, in part one of our two part series looking at perioperative hypotension and acute kidney injury (AKI), we take a close look at the diagnostic criteria for acute kidney injury. We then briefly revise aspects of renal physiology that make the kidney particularly susceptible to hypoxic injury, as well as looking at risk factors and other facets of anaesthesia that additionally predispose the kidney to perioperative injury.

In part two - which will be released in a fortnight - we will take a closer look at the methods we can adopt as anaesthetists to try to prevent perioperative AKI and the evidence of their effectiveness in preventing this complication.

Resources for today's episode:

BJA: Role of perioperative hypotension in postoperative acute kidney injury: a narrative review (sciencedirectassets.com) by Lankadeva, Y. et al.

KDIGO 2012 Acute Kidney Injury Guidelines

LITFL: RIFLE criteria and AKIN classification

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