Acute Kidney Injury in Children after Cardiac Surgery and Associated Risk Factors.

Introduction: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication after cardiac surgery, and its occurrence is associated with a worse prognosis and increased mortality. The term cardiac surgery associated AKI (CSA AKI) is used to describe the entity. CSA AKI is independently associated with an increase in short term morbidity, costs of treatment, and long term mortality. In this study, we evaluated the frequency of CSA AKI in an intensive care unit for children undergoing cardiac surgery to examine the prevalence of CSA AKI and the risk factors contributing to it. Methods: This retrospective descriptive cross sectional study evaluated 73 patients admitted to a single center for cardiac surgery in 2022. Inpatient files were reviewed for patients who underwent surgical procedures for congenital heart disease (CHD) during 2022. Results: AKI occurred in 35.6% of children undergoing cardiac surgery. The majority of cases were infants or had cyanotic heart disease (42.5% and 25.8%, respectively). Conclusions: Almost one third of postcardiac surgery patients develop AKI. Monitoring for AKI postoperatively is especially necessary in infants and patients with cyanotic CHD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]