Your child’s doctor will try to diagnose AKI quickly and find out whether your child needs any treatment. They will talk to you and your child about their symptoms and any medicines that they take. They will do an examination of your child – for example, to see whether they have oedema (swelling in the body).

Your doctor or nurse will check your child’s blood pressure to see whether it is too high (hypertension) or too low (hypotension).

Your child will have a urine test.

Your child may also need other tests, such as blood and kidney ultrasound scan, to find out more about what has caused AKI.

Some children need a kidney biopsy to find out more information. A tiny piece of one kidney is removed from their body with a needle. This is examined under special microscopes in a laboratory. Special medicines are used so your child does not feel any pain or can sleep through the procedure.

More information

  • Tests and diagnosis

    Find out more detail about some of the tests used to diagnose or investigate kidney conditions.

  • Blood tests

    In a blood test, a small sample of your child’s blood will be taken from the body, using a needle. This sample will be looked at by specialists in a laboratory.

  • Urine tests

    Your child may have urine tests at the clinic or hospital to help diagnose a condition or find out how well a treatment is working.