Acute kidney injury in sepsis: transient or intrinsic?

The negative prediction of intrinsic versus transient acute kidney injury (AKI) in septic patients may be facilitated by combined assessment of fractional excretion of sodium and urea. If both excretions are high this would signal the presence of transient AKI and suggest that successful restoration of diuresis by conservative therapy is likely, thus supporting a wait-and-watch approach regarding the initiation of acute renal replacement therapy.