A San Diego company, Astute Medical, has developed a test that can determine someone’s risk of developing acute kidney injury. It's the first such test that's been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Acute kidney injury is an abrupt change in kidney function that can lead to organ failure.
Nearly two-thirds of patients in intensive care units develop acute kidney injury.
Paul McPherson, Astute Medical's chief scientific officer, said Monday that standard tests can only indicate whether a patient may already have the condition.
“Acute kidney injury has no symptoms, so there’s no pain, so it’s very hard to tell who may be at risk," he explained. "So the idea is to detect this earlier than you can with those standard measures that they use now.”
McPherson said the new test, which uses a urine sample, indicates whether a patient will likely develop the condition in the next 12 hours. That allows doctors to intervene.
Company officials said the test is available in France and Germany, and will be sold in the U.S. in a few weeks.
