A method for distinguishing between
kidney dysfunctions in a
mammal, including pre-renal azotemia, an
acute renal injury that may progress to acute renal failure, and chronic
kidney disease, using a urinary or circulating NGAL
assay result that is compared to a predetermined NGAL cutoff level, and a single serum or
plasma creatinine measurement. Typically the single
creatinine measurement cannot distinguish
acute renal injury from chronic
kidney disease or pre-renal azotemia, a
single measurement of urinary NGAL, combined with the single serum or
plasma creatinine measurement, has sufficient sensitivity and specificity to distinguish
acute renal injury from normal function, prerenal azotemia, and chronic
kidney disease and predicts poor inpatient outcomes. Patients admitted to the
emergency department of the hospital with any of
acute kidney injury, prerenal azotemia, chronic
kidney disease, or even normal kidney function, can be evaluated based on the single measurements of urinary or circulating NGAL, and serum or
plasma creatinine. Urinary NGAL level is highly predictive of clinical outcomes, including
nephrology consultation,
dialysis, and admission to the
intensive care unit.