Canadian Society of Nephrology commentary on the 2012 KDIGO clinical practice guideline for acute kidney injury.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is associated with pro-longed hospitalization, substantial health care re-source consumption, high mortality, and can lead toprogressive chronic kidney disease (CKD), includingchronic kidney failure, in survivors. The CanadianSociety of Nephrology (CSN) believes there is a needto develop clinical practice guidelines for patientswith AKI; however, efforts to synthesize knowledgefrom clinical studies evaluating the prevention andtreatmentofAKIandtogenerateguidelineshavebeenlimited. One barrier has been the absence of consen-sus on the definition of AKI, with more than 35definitionsofAKIpublishedtodate.Further,thereisaperceivedlackofeffectiveprophylacticandtreatmentstrategies for AKI, and it is challenging to developguidelines that involve multiple stakeholders fromdiversedisciplinesincludingnephrology,criticalcare,and radiology, all of which are important end users ofguidelines forAKI. In this context, the KDIGO (Kid-neyDisease:ImprovingGlobalOutcomes)AKIwork-ing group has recently published new criteria for thedefinition and classification of AKI, as well as aclinicalpracticeguidelineaddressingbothAKIpreven-tion and treatment.