Post-surgical acute kidney injury

Acute kidney injury (AKI) after cardiac surgery is an important cause of morbidity and mortality. About 1–5% of these patients require dialysis and mortality rates in those requiring dialysis is as high as 40–80% despite advancement in dialysis methods and critical care. Risk factors includes diabetes, previous renal dysfunction, nature of surgery, hypotension and emergency surgery among others. Now a days with the advent of newer biomarkers, AKI can be detected early as compared to serum creatinine. However, the results of various studies are conflicting and there is no recommendation regarding the use of these biomarkers. There is little data about AKI after other surgeries. Many drugs have been tried for the treatment of AKI, but results of them are disappointing. The possible development of genetic markers is a hope for future.