The Impact of Macro-and Micronutrients on Predicting Outcomes of Critically Ill Patients Requiring Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy.

Critically ill patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) who receive renal replacement therapy (RRT) have very high mortality rate. During RRT, there are markedly loss of macro- and micronutrients which may cause malnutrition and result in impaired renal recovery and patient survival. We aimed to examine the predictive role of macro- and micronutrients on survival and renal outcomes in critically ill patients undergoing continuous RRT (CRRT). This prospective observational study enrolled critically ill patients requiring CRRT at Intensive Care Unit of King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital from November 2012 until November 2013. The serum, urine, and effluent fluid were serially collected on the first three days to calculate protein metabolism including dietary protein intake (DPI), nitrogen balance, and normalized protein catabolic rate (nPCR). Serum zinc, selenium, and copper were measured for micronutrients analysis on the first three days of CRRT. Survivor was defined as being alive on day 28 after initiation of CRRT.Dialysis status on day 28 was also determined. Of the 70 critically ill patients requiring CRRT, 27 patients (37.5%) survived on day 28. The DPI and serum albumin of survivors were significantly higher than non-survivors (0.8± 0.2 vs 0.5 ±0.3g/kg/day, p = 0.001, and 3.2±0.5 vs 2.9±0.5 g/dL, p = 0.03, respectively) while other markers were comparable. The DPI alone predicted patient survival with area under the curve (AUC) of 0.69. A combined clinical model predicted survival with AUC of 0.78. When adjusted for differences in albumin level, clinical severity score (APACHEII and SOFA score), and serum creatinine at initiation of CRRT, DPI still independently predicted survival (odds ratio 4.62, p = 0.009). The serum levels of micronutrients in both groups were comparable and unaltered following CRRT. Regarding renal outcome, patients in the dialysis independent group had higher serum albumin levels than the dialysis dependent group, p = 0.01. In conclusion, in critically ill patients requiring CRRT, DPI is a good predictor of patient survival while serum albumin is a good prognosticator of renal outcome.

Neutrophil Gelatinase Associated Lipocalin (NGAL) in Leptospirosis Acute Kidney Injury: A Multicenter Study in Thailand.

AKI is one of the most serious complications of leptospirosis, an important zoonosis in the tropics. Recently, NGAL, one of the novel AKI biomarkers, is extensively studied in various specific settings such as sepsis, cardiac surgery, and radiocontrast nephropathy. In this multicenter study, we aimed to study the role of NGAL as an early marker and an outcome predictor of leptospirosis associated AKI. Patients who presented with clinical suspiciousness of leptospirosis were prospectively enrolled in 9 centers from August 2012 to November 2014. The first day of enrollment was the first day of clinical suspicious leptospirosis. Blood and urine samples were serially collected on the first three days and day 7 after enrollment. We used three standard techniques (microscopic agglutination test, direct culture, and PCR technique) to confirm the diagnosis of leptospirosis. KDIGO criteria were used for AKI diagnosis. Recovery was defined as alive and not requiring dialysis during hospitalization or maintaining maximum KDIGO stage at hospital discharge. Of the 221 recruited cases, 113 cases were leptospirosis confirmed cases. Thirty seven percent developed AKI. Median uNGAL and pNGAL levels in those developing AKI were significantly higher than in patients not developing AKI [253.8 (631.4) vs 24.1 (49.6) ng/ml, p < 0.001] and [1,030 (802.5) vs 192.0 (209.0) ng/ml, p < 0.001], respectively. uNGAL and pNGAL levels associated with AKI had AUC-ROC of 0.91, and 0.92, respectively. Both of urine NGAL and pNGAL level between AKI-recovery group and AKI-non recovery were comparable. From this multicenter study, uNGAL and pNGAL provided the promising result to be a marker for leptospirosis associated AKI. However, both of them did not show the potential role to be the predictor of renal recovery in this specific setting.