Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Cleveland Clinic, Heart Disease, JACC, Kidney Disease / 12.10.2015
Biomarker Identifies Kidney Injury In Heart Failure Patients
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Wilson Tang MD
Professor of Medicine
Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine
Case Western Reserve University
Director of the Center for Clinical Genomics
Cleveland Clinic
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Tang: Renal impairment has long been associated with worse outcomes in acute heart failure. Administration of diuretic therapy often obscures accurate assessment of renal function by urine output. Despite extensive literature suggesting the poor outcomes in those with a rise in creatinine following treatment, recent data has suggested that in the presence of effective diuresis, this phenomenon likely represents hemoconcentration and azotemia rather than acute kidney injury. We observed that using a novel and sensitive biomarker that identified acute kidney injury, specific to tubular injury, we can identify those at higher risk of adverse outcomes in patents admitted for acute heart failure. However, after adjusting for standard risk factors, the prognostic value was clearly attenuated.
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