Preoperative Factors Associated With Postoperative Requirements of Renal Replacement Therapy Following Cardiac Surgery

• Postoperative renal failure was investigated in 1,688 patients who underwent cardiac surgery.
• Preoperative factors associated with postoperative renal replacement therapy were analyzed.
• Hypoalbuminemia was the strong predictor of a need for renal replacement therapy.
• A need for renal replacement therapy was related to an increase in postoperative adverse events.

Renal dysfunction is a major adverse event after cardiovascular surgery. Therefore, the preoperative prediction of which patients will require renal replacement therapy (RRT) after cardiac surgery is an important issue. In the present study, 1,822 consecutive patients who underwent cardiovascular surgery from 2008 and 2013 at a single institution were reviewed. Patients who were already receiving long-term hemodialysis before surgery (n = 134) were excluded. The remaining 1,688 patients were separated into 2 groups: those requiring postoperative RRT and those without RRT requirement. A total of 128 patients (7.6%) required RRT. Patients requiring RRT had greater perioperative blood loss, longer intubation time, and longer hospital stays (p <0.0001 for all). Multivariate analysis revealed that cardiopulmonary bypass use, preoperative body surface area, the left ventricular ejection fraction, serum albumin, and creatinine were independent risk factors for postoperative RRT (odds ratios 2.435, 0.204, 0.976, 0.556, and 5.394, 95% confidence intervals 1.471 to 4.140, 0.054 to 0.841, 0.962 to 1.025, 0.363 to 0.860, and 3.671 to 8.223, respectively, p <0.05 for all). A subgroup of patients with relatively preserved renal function before surgery (creatinine <1.12 mg/dl, a cut-off value for RRT requirement obtained from receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis [area under the curve 0.74748, sensitivity 60.2%, specificity 85.0%]) showed that preoperative serum albumin concentration was most significantly associated with postoperative RRT requirement (odds ratio 0.048, 95% confidence interval 0.023 to 0.095, p <0.0001). In conclusion, cardiopulmonary bypass use, preoperative renal impairment as reflected by elevated creatinine level, small body size, a low left ventricular ejection fraction, and hypoalbuminemia were associated with a requirement for postoperative RRT. In patients with preserved renal function, hypoalbuminemia was most significantly related to requirement for RRT.