Irena Vulicevic

Biomarkers of acute kidney injury in pediatric cardiac surgery

OBJECTIVES Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a significant problem in children undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). The aims of this study were to assess the diagnostic validity of serum CysC (sCysC), serum neutrophil gelatinase lipocalin (sNGAL), urine neutrophil gelatinase lipocalin (uNGAL), urine kidney injury molecule (uKIM)-1, and urine liver fatty acid-binding protein (uL-FABP) to predict AKI presence and severity in children undergoing CPB. DESIGN AND METHODS We performed a prospective single-center evaluation of sCysC, sNGAL, uNGAL, uKIM-1 and uL-FABP at 0, 2, 6, 24 and 48 h postoperatively in children undergoing CPB during cardiac surgery. AKI was defined as ≥25% decrease in the estimated creatinine clearance (eCCl) from pre-operative baseline at 48h after surgery. RESULTS Of the 112 patients, 18 patients (16.1%) developed AKI; four of them needed acute dialysis treatment and three AKI patients died. In the AKI compared to the non-AKI group, sCysC at 2h, and uNGAL and uL-FABP at 2-48 h were significantly increased, as well as CPB, aortic cross clamp time and length of hospital stay. Biomarkers increased with worsening AKI severity. At 2h after CPB the best accuracy for diagnosis of AKI had uL-FABP and sCysC with area under the receiver operator curve (AUC) of 0.89 and 0.73, respectively. At 6 and 24h after CPB the best AUC was found for uL-FABP (0.75 and 0.87 respectively) and for uNGAL (0.70 and 0.93, respectively). CONCLUSIONS sCysC, uNGAL and uL-FABP are reliable early predictors for AKI after CPB. By allowing earlier timing of injury and earlier intervention, they could improve AKI outcome.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of acute kidney injury biomarkers in pediatric cardiac surgery

Introduction Acute kidney injury (AKI) is significant problem in children with congenital heart disease (CHD) who undergo cardiac surgery. The economic impact of a biomarker-based diagnostic strategy for AKI in pediatric populations undergoing CHD surgery is unknown. The aim of this study was to perform the cost effectiveness analysis of using serum cystatin C (sCysC), urine neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (uNGAL) and urine liver fatty acid-binding protein (uL-FABP) for the diagnosis of AKI in children after cardiac surgery compared with current diagnostic method (monitoring of serum creatinine (sCr) level). Materials and methods We developed a decision analytical model to estimate incremental cost-effectiveness of different biomarker-based diagnostic strategies compared to current diagnostic strategy. The Markov model was created to compare the lifetime cost associated with using of sCysC, uNGAL, uL-FABP with monitoring of sCr level for the diagnosis of AKI. The utility measurement included in the analysis was quality-adjusted life years (QALY). The results of the analysis are presented as the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). Results Analysed biomarker-based diagnostic strategies for AKI were cost-effective compared to current diagnostic method. However, uNGAL and sCys C strategies yielded higher costs and lower effectiveness compared to uL-FABP strategy. uL-FABP added 1.43 QALY compared to current diagnostic method at an additional cost of

Comparison of high glucose concentration blood and crystalloid cardioplegia in paediatric cardiac surgery: a randomized clinical trial

8521.87 per patient. Therefore, ICER for uL-FABP compared to sCr was

Treatment of cyanotic heart diseases in children

5959.35/QALY. Conclusions Our results suggest that the use of uL-FABP would represent cost effective strategy for early diagnosis of AKI in children after cardiac surgery.

L-FABP can be an early marker of acute kidney injury in children

OBJECTIVES This study investigates the effects of high glucose content on patients undergoing cold crystalloid versus cold blood cardioplegia in terms of early clinical results, functional myocardial recovery and ischaemia-reperfusion injury in patients undergoing repair of acyanotic cardiac lesions. METHODS Patients were randomly assigned to receive either crystalloid (n = 31) or blood cardioplegia (n = 31). Early clinical results were assessed. Changes in left ventricular fractional shortening, arterial blood lactate levels, central venous saturation, cardiac Troponin I release and blood glucose concentration were measured during the first 24 h after ischaemia. RESULTS There was no significant difference in clinical outcomes and postoperative complication rates between groups. The postoperative changes in left ventricular function, lactate levels, central venous saturation and Troponin I were not significantly different between groups. The use of crystalloid cardioplegia was associated with significant increases in serum glucose compared with blood cardioplegia. CONCLUSIONS A high glucose content blood cardioplegia does not show any advantage compared with crystalloid cardioplegia in terms of clinical outcomes, functional recovery and the degree of ischaemic injury in infants and children undergoing repair of acyanotic heart lesions. High glucose concentration of the cardioplegic solution might potentiate ischaemia-reperfusion injury and diminish the beneficial effects of blood cardioplegia.

Midterm results after complete surgical correction of transposition of the great arteries

Cyanotic heart diseases are relatively rare, but they are severe and heterogeneous congenital heart diseases, which require complex surgery. Development of different advanced surgical procedures, such as arterial switch operation (ASO), Fontan and its modifications, Norwood etc. operations, as well as better perioperative care significantly improved survival rate and quality of life of these children. The study group included 308 children treated for cyanotic heart disease in Yugoslavia, in the period January 2000 to July 2004. Some of them (239, 77.6%) were treated at the University Childrens Hospital in Belgrade, and others (69, 22.4%) in different institutions abroad. The age of the operated patients varied between 1 day and 19 years (median 12 months). The patients (pts) were divided into four groups, according to the disease and type of the operation. In the whole group of 308 patients treated due to cyanotic heart disease, there were 232 (75.3%) cases with open heart surgery and 76 (24.7%) with closed procedures. The mortality rate was significantly different between disease/operation groups, and age groups. Average mortality rates differed from 11.8% for palliative procedures to 12.5% for complete corrections. Mortality rate and achieved surgical results in treatment of children with cyanotic heart diseases were significantly worse than those published by leading cardiac surgery centers in the world. However, there is a clear tendency in introducing new surgical procedures, lowering the age at which the operation is done and decreasing the mortality rates.