Kidney failure after heart transplantation.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Heart transplantation is a procedure with a high mortality rate. Altered kidney function (AKF) after a heart transplant is common. The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of and associated factors for renal dysfunction among patients who underwent heart transplantation in our hospital between January 2006 and November 2008. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This retrospective observational study was performed on all patients receiving a heart transplant between January 1, 2006 and November 15, 2008. The following variables were recorded: patient comorbidities, indication, presurgical urea and creatinine levels, donor variables, surgical procedure, and postoperative features. RESULTS: A total of 54 heart transplantations were performed with 68.5% of patients being male. The average age at transplant was 49.52 years (±13.45 y) and the mean weight 72.5 kg (±14.8 kg). Overall mortality was 28.30%. Of the 54 patients, 70.4% showed AKF during the first week after transplantation; 30.61% were in stage III according to the Acute Kidney Injury classification. There were no statistically significant differences between the group of patients with versus without renal failure, except for the extracorporeal surgery time, which was significantly longer among those patients who had AKF, and glycemia, which was also higher in the immediate postoperative period. Analysis of patient mortality showed no significant differences for the patients with AKF (80% vs 68.4%; P=31). CONCLUSIONS: The rate of acute kidney failure was high (70.4%), as was the use of chronic renal replacement therapy (28.85%), but it decreased considerably when followed over time.

Application of the McCluskey Index to predict blood product requirements during liver transplantation.

BACKGROUND: A recent study proposed a risk index (McCluskey index) based on 7 parameters to identify the transfusion needs of patients during surgery and in the first 24 hours postoperation. The initial objective of our study was to validate this predictor for blood product transfusions. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We undertook a retrospective, observational study of all liver transplant patients between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2006. The following variables were recorded for each patient: age, gender, patient comorbidity, biochemical values prior to liver transplantation, and transfusion needs. RESULTS: Comparing the transfusion needs of those patients with scores <5 with those of scores >/=5, we observed significant differences in terms of the use of red blood cell concentrates, plasma, and platelets, both during the first 24 hours and in the total number. The index sensitivity was 80% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 71.23-88.76), with a specificity of 84.21% (95% CI: 67.81-100), where the positive predictive value was 95.52% (95% CI: 90.57-100.4) and the negative predictive value was 50% (95% CI: 32.67-67.32). CONCLUSION: The McCluskey index showed sufficient sensitivity and specificity to predict which patients will require a massive transfusion.