Acute Kidney Injury
Diagnosis of AKI and Interprofessional collaboration
Jennifer Kong
Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
- Explain the role of blood and urine tests in the diagnosis of AKI
- Briefly describe how ultrasound works and the role of the sonographer when diagnosing AKI
Medical Lab Technologist
Sonographer
Sonography and acute kidney injury. Created by Ken Marken and Jennifer Kong under a CC-BY-NC license.
Many health professionals work together to diagnose AKI and determine the severity. Medical lab technologists can test the presence of wastes in the blood, indicative of an impaired elimination from the renal system. Similarly, they can test for the presence of useful nutrients in the urine, indicative of impaired reabsorption at the nephron level. Sonographers can give real-time imaging of blood flow to the kidney and of the kidney itself. This is helpful for prerenal causes as sonographers can use the ‘doppler’ to measure blood flow to the kidney and for post-rental causes as an obstruction can be visualized.
- Blood plasma or serum
- Feces
- Urine
- Hair
2. Sonography can detect the presence of a blood clot to the kidney.
- True
- False
3. Why are medical lab technologists are measuring nitrogen waste levels in blood and not urine?
Answer Key
- Blood plasma or serum, Urine
- True
- Kidney failure means you can’t eliminate the nitrogenous wastes from your blood into your urine. You would expect to see nitrogen waste in urine at all times – but there should be much nitrogen in your blood if your kidneys work.
