Dialysis prescription in acute kidney injury: when and how much?

Acute kidney injury (AKI) constitutes a serious public health problem because of its very high cost and mortality rate, with an increasing incidence, phenomenon which is explained by the increasingly number of older patients suffering from several comorbidities admitted in the intensive care units. Despite the new AKI definition and classification, the use of novel AKI biomarkers and modern technologies, as an attempt to achieve an early AKI detection and treatment, and consequently to better clinical outcomes, AKI mortality particularly in ICU patients remains persistently high. In the present article, the currently accepted concepts regarding dose and time of hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis prescription in AKI patients have been reviewed.