Urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) and serum cystatin C measurements for early diagnosis of acute kidney injury in children admitted to PICU.

Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is common in critically ill children with significant mortality and morbidity. Serum creatinine is an insensitive and late biomarker compared to newly proposed AKI biomarkers.

Methods: Prospective study in pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) over three months to compare between serum cystatin-C (s-Cys-C) and urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (uNGAL) as AKI biomarkers at multiple time points with pediatric risk, injury, failure, loss, end-stage renal disease (pRIFLE) classification in diagnosing AKI.