Unique Transcriptional Programs Identify Subtypes of AKI.

Two metrics, a rise in serum creatinine concentration and a decrease in urine output, are considered tantamount to the injury of the kidney tubule and the epithelial cells thereof (AKI). Yet neither criterion emphasizes the etiology or the pathogenetic heterogeneity of acute decreases in kidney excretory function. In fact, whether decreased excretory function due to contraction of the extracellular fluid volume (vAKI) or due to intrinsic kidney injury (iAKI) actually share pathogenesis and should be aggregated in the same diagnostic group remains an open question.