Early diagnosis of acute kidney injury by urinary YKL-40 in critically ill patients in ICU: a pilot study.

Purpose: In critically ill patients, acute kidney injury (AKI) is a devastating problem often associated with adverse outcomes. Depending on the conventional markers for diagnosis of AKI, an undesirable delay in the diagnosis and initiation of treatment has occurred. Thus, it is challenging to find a biomarker for early diagnosis of AKI.