Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a devastating disease that affects patients throughout the world
and is associated with high morbidity and mortality. It has been traditionally thought that
patients who do survive recover renal function; however, recent population-based evidence
strongly suggests that this may not be the case in many instances. New data suggest that a
strikingly large percentage of patients who have AKI require permanent renal replacement
therapy or do not fully recover renal function, and that this population has an important and …