Usefulness of High Estimated Pulmonary Artery Systolic Pressure to Predict Acute Kidney Injury After Cardiac Valve Operations.

High estimated pulmonary artery systolic pressure (ePASP) has been established as a detrimental predictor for adverse outcomes in patients with chronic kidney disease. However, the relation between preoperative high ePASP and the development of cardiac surgery associated acute kidney injury (CSA-AKI) has not been validated. We performed a retrospective cohort study of adult patients who underwent valve surgery in 2015 at Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University. Right ventricular systolic pressure, a surrogate for pulmonary systolic pressure, was estimated in the study group of 1056 patients by preoperative echocardiography. CSA-AKI was defined based on the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes criteria. The relation between preoperative ePASP and CSA-AKI was demonstrated with the use of multivariate analysis after adjusting for potential risk factors for CSA-AKI. Of these patients, preoperative ePASP was 44.5 ± 14.9 mm Hg. 401 (38%) patients developed CSA-AKI in which 73 patients (6.9%) suffered from severe AKI (stage II and III). Multivariate analysis showed that preoperative ePASP was independently associated with CSA-AKI (odds ratio per 10 mm Hg increment, 1.099; 95% confidence interval, 1.003 to 1.204; p = 0.042). Preoperative ePASP more than 60 mm Hg was found to be linked with the increasing incidence of AKI by 62% and in-hospital mortality by over 300%, but not linked with severe AKI or renal replacement therapy. In conclusion, an increase in preoperative ePASP was independently and significantly associated with the development of CSA-AKI in patients who underwent valve surgery. Such relation between preoperative ePASP and CSA-AKI could provide a novel therapeutic target against prevention of AKI.