Acute kidney injury is classified into three categories. Which category is caused by urinary tract obstruction?

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Acute kidney injury is classified by where the problem blocks urine flow or damages the kidney. When the issue is obstruction in the urinary tract, preventing urine from exiting, this is postrenal AKI. Urine backs up, pressure rises upstream, and the filtration rate falls, causing the abrupt kidney dysfunction seen in AKI. Relieving the obstruction—such as passing a stone, draining an obstructed system, or treating a blockage—can often reverse the injury if caught early. In contrast, prerenal AKI comes from reduced blood flow to the kidneys, intrinsic AKI from direct kidney tissue damage, and chronic kidney disease is a long-standing, not acute, decline in kidney function.