Acute kidney injury subphenotyping and personalized medicine

Purpose of review: This review discusses novel concepts of acute kidney injury (AKI), including subphenotyping, which may facilitate the development of target treatment strategies for specific subgroups of patients to achieve precision medicine.

Recent findings: AKI is a multifaceted syndrome with a major impact on morbidity and mortality. As efforts to identify treatment strategies have largely failed, it is becoming increasingly apparent that there are different subphenotypes that require different treatment strategies. Various ways of subphenotyping AKI have been investigated, including the use of novel renal biomarkers, machine learning and artificial intelligence, some of which have already been implemented in the clinical setting. Thus, novel renal biomarkers have been recommended for inclusion in new definition criteria for AKI and for the use of biomarker bundled strategies for the prevention of AKI. Computational models have been explored and require future research.

Summary: Subphenotyping of AKI may provide a new understanding of this syndrome and guide targeted treatment strategies in order to improve patient outcomes.