Keywords: Oliguria; Thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm surgery; Post-reanal AKI;
Incidence of AKI during thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm surgery ranges from higher than other surgery [2]. One of the reasons why AKI commonly occurs during thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm surgery is that hypovolemia and renal hypoperfusion may result from aortic clamping and Cardiopulmonary Bypass (CPB) pump. Currently, there are several ongoing studies of AKIs due to thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm surgeries. These studies indicate a correlation between AKI and preoperative creatinine (Cr), operation time, CPB time, and clamping time [3,4,5]. However, there are still limited researches conducted on post-renal AKI such as foley catheter obstruction.
The author et al., for this study has discovered obstructive oliguria and AKI due to atypical blood clots during thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm surgery, and therefore is reporting this result.
Initial Cr level was 0.85 mg/dL, 0.87 mg/dL at 6th hour, 1.10 mg/dL at 9th hour, 1.33 mg/dL at 12th hour (immediately after the surgery), this increasing trend indicates AKI.
Patient underwent voiding cystourethrogram during the surgery, and demonstrated an enlarged urethral bulb (Figure 2). On the 2nd and 4th postoperative day (POD), bladder irrigation was done to remove blood clots which caused cystostomy catheter obstruction. On the 12th POD, cystostomy catheter was removed, and the patient could do self-voiding about six times. And he was discharged on the 20th POD.
In this case, patient’s urine out showed oliguria aspect (< 0.5 cc/kg/h) and serum creatinine was increased during thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm surgery (0.48 mg/dL increased during surgery). It is appropriate for RIFLE risk and AKIN criteria stage 1 of AKI classification [6] (Table 1). The patient experienced oliguria as his urinary pathway was damaged by trauma and obstructed, leading to hematuria due to Foley catheter insertion caused by urethral bulb enlargement and BPH. It is assumed that hematuria led to blood clot, causing obstruction of Foley catheter.
RIFLE |
Serum creatinine criteria |
UO criteria |
AKIN criteria |
Serum creatinine criteria |
UO criteria |
Risk |
Increase in serum creatinine ≥ 1.5 x baseline or decrease in GFR ≥ 25% |
< 0.5 mL kg-1h-1 for ≥ 6 hours |
Stage 1 |
Increase in serum creatinine ≥ 0.3mg dL-1 (26.4 μmol L-1) or incease≥ 1.5 x baseline |
< 0.5 mL kg-1h-1 for ≥ 6 hours |
Injury |
Injury increase in serum creatinine ≥ 2.0 x baseline or decrease in GFR ≥ 50% |
< 0.5 mL kg-1h-1 for ≥ 12 hours |
Stage 2 |
Increase in serum creatinine ≥ x baseline |
< 0.5 mL kg-1h-1 for ≥ 12 hours |
Failure |
Failure increase in serum creatinine ≥ 3.0 x baseline or decrease in GFR ≥ 75% |
< 0.3 mL kg-1h-1 for ≥ 24 hours or anuria ≥ 12 hours |
Stage 3 |
Increase in serum creatinine ≥ 3 x baseline or serum creatinine ≥ 4.0 mg dL-1 (354 μmol L-1) with an acute rise of at least 0.5 mg dL-1 (44 μmol L-1) or initiation of RRT |
< 0.3 mL kg-1h-1 for ≥ 24 hours or anuria ≥ 12 hours |
Loss |
Complete loss of kidney function > 4 weeks |
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|
|
|
ESKD |
Complete loss of kidney function > 3 weeks |
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But this study limitation is that we cannot completely rule out pre-renal risk factors such as relatively long CPB time (3 hours and 30 minutes).
Oliguria and AKI during aortic surgery have multifactorial etiology [1,7]. Incidence of AKI during thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm surgery ranges from 7.7% to 28% higher than other surgery [2]. Since hypovolemia and renal hypoperfusion is prone to occur by CPB pump in thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm surgery, anesthesiologist is more likely to think of pre-renal factor when oliguria occurs.
So, in many studies, prerenal risk factors such as hypotension, low cardiac output, arrhythmia, cardiopulmonary bypass time, and operation time are considered to be risk factors for oliguria or AKI, but post-renal risk factors, such as Foley catheter obstruction, are not typically taken into consideration. But the authors investigated the case of a patient who experienced AKI due to Foley catheter obstruction during surgery.
During surgery, it was difficult to notice patient’s bladder distention due to his unconsciousness and draping. Oliguria and AKI increase postoperative complications, so early detection is critical. If oliguria occurs during surgery and there are no prerenal factors, anesthesiologist must consider post-renal factors, such as Foley catheter obstruction. So bladder irrigation should be performed at first. If bladder irrigation is difficult to perform, checking bladder distention may be helpful to identify the causes of the patient’s oliguria.
- Cerda J. Oliguria: an earlier and accurate biomarker of acute kidney injury? Kidney Int. 2011;80(7):699-701. doi: 10.1038/ki.2011.177
- Jayaraman R, Sunder S, Sathi S, Gupta VK, Sharma N, Kanchi P, et al. Post cardiac surgery acute kidney injury: a woebegone status rejuvenated by the novel biomarkers. Nephrourol Mon. 2014;6(4):e19598. doi: 10.5812/numonthly.19598
- Roh GU, Lee JW, Nam SB, Lee J, Choi JR, Shim YH. Incidence and risk factors of acute kidney injury after thoracic aortic surgery for acute dissection. Ann Thorac Surg. 2012;94(3):766-771. doi: 10.1016/j. athoracsur.2012.04.057
- Kamitani K, Yoshida H, Arai R, Ito H, Miyoshi H, Takebe M, et al. [Examination of acute kidney injury after abdominal aortic aneurysm surgery]. Masui. 2011;60(6):686-691.
- Tang Y, Chen J, Huang K, Luo D, Liang P, Feng M, et al. The incidence, risk factors and in-hospital mortality of acute kidney injury in patients after abdominal aortic aneurysm repair surgery. BMC Nephrol. 2017;18(1):184. doi: 10.1186/s12882-017-0594-6
- Chang CH, Lin CY, Tian YC, Jenq CC, Chang MY, Chen YC, et al., Acute kidney injury classification: comparison of AKIN and RIFLE criteria. Shock. 2010;33(3):247-252. doi: 10.1097/SHK.0b013e3181b2fe0c
- Tallgren M, Niemi T, Pöyhiä R, Raininko E, Railo M, Salmenperä M, et al., Acute renal injury and dysfunction following elective abdominal aortic surgery. Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg. 2007;33(5):550-555. DOI: 10.1016/j.ejvs.2006.12.005