Furosemide Stress Test Use in Children at Risk for Acute Kidney Injury

Imogen Clover-Brown1, Giovanni Ceschia2, Katja M Gist3

  • 1Division of Critical Care Medicine, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.

PubMed

Insights

The furosemide stress test (FST) can predict severe acute kidney injury (AKI) and need for renal replacement therapy (RRT) in high-risk pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) patients. Urine flow rate (UFR) from the FST is a valuable predictor, even in established AKI.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Nephrology
  • Critical Care Medicine
  • Renal Physiology

Background:

  • The furosemide stress test (FST) assesses urine flow rate (UFR) post-furosemide administration.
  • FST is established for predicting severe acute kidney injury (AKI) and need for renal replacement therapy (RRT) in adults.
  • Data on FST utility in pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) patients, especially those stratified as high-risk using the renal angina index (RAI) and urine neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (uNGAL), is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the prognostic performance of the FST in predicting severe AKI and RRT receipt in high-risk PICU patients.
  • To assess the predictive value of urine flow rate (UFR) derived from the FST for adverse renal outcomes.
  • To determine if FST has prognostic utility independent of AKI stage in this population.

Main Methods:

  • Combined data from two prospective observational studies of high-risk PICU patients (RAI+ and uNGAL+).
  • Compared outcomes between patients who underwent FST within the first week and those who did not.
  • Analyzed FST responders versus nonresponders, examining UFR's predictive performance for new or persistent severe AKI or RRT receipt within 2 days.

Main Results:

  • Of 273 high-risk patients, 112 underwent FST; 60% were nonresponders.
  • FST nonresponders had higher AKI stages and significantly higher incidence of new/persistent severe AKI (89% vs. 37%) and RRT receipt (43% vs. 8%) compared to responders.
  • UFR demonstrated strong predictive performance for severe AKI (AUROC: 0.89) and RRT receipt (AUROC: 0.84), with optimal cutoffs identified.

Conclusions:

  • The FST is inconsistently applied in high-risk pediatric populations but provides significant prognostic information.
  • UFR from the FST effectively predicts new or persistent severe AKI and RRT receipt in PICU patients.
  • The prognostic utility of FST for severe AKI and RRT is independent of the initial AKI stage.
Abstract

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