NGAL an early biomarker for acute kidney injury

This prospective observational single centre study was conducted to determine the relationship between NGAL in plasma and urine and the development of AKI in a heterogeneous adult ICU population in which the timing of renal damage is not well defined. The predictive ability of NGAL is determined and it's earlier detection properties compared to functional parameters like serum Creatinine and Cystatin C. Two methods of NGAL detection will be used and their test properties compared.

NGAL is an early predictive biomarker for acute kidney injury in a heterogeneous adult ICU population.

There were eight timepoints for NGAL plasma and urine measurements: T=0, 4, 8, 24, 36, 48, 60 and 72 hours after admission to the ICU.

This observational study was conducted in order to determine the ability of NGAL -an early biomarker of tubular damage- to predict the presence and development of Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) in a general adult ICU population. Plasma and urine NGAL were measured using the conventional ELISA for plasma and urine and a rapid bed side immunoassay for plasma. During the study period all consecutively admitted patients were included.