Astute Medical, Inc. will host an educational symposium bringing together an international panel of medical experts to discuss how newly validated biomarkers of acute kidney injury (AKI) risk can improve care of critically ill patients in the intensive care setting.
The symposium, AKI Biomarkers of Risk Assessment: A New Age, will take place at the 31st International Vicenza Course on Critical Care Nephrology in Vicenza, Italy on Tuesday, June 11 from 15:00 to 16:30 local time.
"AKI incidence is rising and has recently been associated with acute health events, chronic diseases as well as certain pharmaceutical and recreational drug use," says Dr. Claudio Ronco, director of the department of nephrology at San Bartolo hospital in Vicenza, Italy. "If undetected and unchecked, AKI can result in substantial kidney damage that can hinder quality of life, raise the risk of readmission or even result in death."
Presenters at the symposium will discuss pathogenesis of AKI along with emerging management strategies. Dr. John Kellum of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center will highlight the symposium with recent findings demonstrating the use of two biomarkers found to be highly accurate in the assessment of AKI risk and superior to current methods. Other featured speakers include Dr. Lakhmir Chawla, associate professor of medicine at George Washington University, and Dr. Max Bell, senior researcher and physician in the Department of Anesthesiology, Surgical Services and Critical Care Medicine at Karolinska University Hospital in Solna, Sweden.
Increasingly, hospital physicians worldwide are expressing concern about the health risk and cost burden of AKI. "Kidney complications during hospitalization are as frequent and dangerous to patients as heart attack," says Dr. Kellum. "However, unlike heart attack, AKI is silent, without signs and symptoms that guide risk assessment. It is imperative that physicians remain abreast of emerging techniques for risk assessment and management of this condition."
Astute Medical, Inc. recently commenced European commercialization of the NephroCheck® Test for AKI risk assessment. Astute Medical is an exhibitor at the 31st International Vicenza Course on Critical Care Nephrology. Astute Medical''s booth is #17 located in the main exhibit hall.
About AKI
Acute kidney injury is a complex and increasingly prevalent condition associated with high mortality in critically ill patients. Although it occurs quickly (over the course of hours), there is commonly a challenge in risk assessment due to the inadequate tools currently available to physicians. Failure to recognize and manage AKI in the early stages can lead to devastating outcomes for patients and increased costs to the healthcare system. For more information on incidence, costs and other aspects of AKI visit the Astute Medical media room.
About Astute Medical, Inc.
Named by the Wall Street Journal as one of the Top 10 Healthcare Start-Ups of 2012, Astute Medical is dedicated to improving the diagnosis of high-risk medical conditions and diseases through the identification and validation of protein biomarkers that can serve as the basis for novel diagnostic tests. The Company''s focus is community- and hospital-acquired acute conditions that require rapid diagnosis and risk assessment. Astute Medical''s current areas of interest include abdominal pain, acute coronary syndromes, cerebrovascular injury, kidney injury and sepsis.
