Annals Thoracic Surgery, Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Kidney Disease / 15.01.2015
NGAL is Promising Biomarker of Kidney Injury After Heart Surgery
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Professeur Sidney Chocron
Chef de Service Chirurgie Thoracique et Cardio-Vasculaire
CHU de Besançon - Hôpital Jean Minjoz
BESANCON Cedex
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Prof. Chocron: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of the most frequent complications after cardiac surgery.There is a time delay between the onset of renal impairment and the resulting telltale increase in blood creatinine levels.
Recent studies have underlined the promising properties of Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin (NGAL). NGAL values early after surgery could predict the duration and severity of Acute Kidney Injury. In addition, NGAL can independently predict deteriorating renal function and could therefore be useful even in the context of pre-existing renal failure.
We aimed to assess the predictive ability of plasma NGAL levels to identify deteriorations in renal function after cardiac surgery in patients with pre-existing renal failure.
Medical Research: What are the main findings?
Prof. Chocron: One hundred sixty six patients with pre-operative renal failure i.e pre-operative creatinine clearance ≤60 mL/min/1.73m2 according to the Cockcroft Gault formula, were included in the study.
The threshold NGAL values at 6 hours after operation, as determined by ROC curve analysis was 155 ng/mL with a sensitivity of 79% and a specificity of 58%.
By multivariate analysis at 6 hours, a history of hypertension (OR=3.2 [1.2 - 8.9]), occurrence of at least 1 post-operative complication (OR=4.5 [1.3 - 15]), and an NGAL value above 155 ng/mL (OR=7.1 [2.7 - 18]) were shown to be independent predictors of the occurrence of post-operative AKI.
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