Remote Ischemic Preconditioning for Prevention of Acute Kidney Injury in Patients Undergoing On-Pump Cardiac Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) may attenuate acute kidney injury (AKI). However, results of studies evaluating the effect of RIPC on AKI after cardiac surgery have been controversial and contradictory. The aim of this meta-analysis is to examine the association between RIPC and AKI after on-pump cardiac surgery. The authors searched relevant studies in PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library through December 2015. We considered for inclusion all randomized controlled trials that the role of RIPC in reducing AKI and renal replacement therapy (RRT) among patients underwent on-pump cardiac surgical procedures. We collected the data on AKI, initiation of RRT, serum creatinine (sCr) levels, and in-hospital mortality. Random- and fixed-effect models were used for pooling data. Nineteen trials including 5100 patients were included. The results of this meta-analysis showed a significant benefit of RIPC for reducing the incidence of AKI after cardiac interventions (odds ratio [OR] = 0.84; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.73–0.98; P = 0.02). No significant difference was found in the incidence of RRT between RIPC and control (OR, 0.76, 95% CI, 0.46–1.24; P = 0.36). In addition, compared with standard medical care, RIPC showed no significant difference in postoperative sCr (IV 0.07; 95% CI, −0.03 to 0.16; P = 0.20; postoperative day 1; IV 0.00; 95% CI, −0.08 to 0.09; P = 0.92; postoperative day 2; IV 0.04; 95% CI, −0.05 to 0.12; P = 0.39; postoperative day 3), and in-hospital mortality (OR, 1.21, 95% CI, 0.64–2.30; P = 0.56). According to the results from present meta-analysis, RIPC was associated with a significant reduction AKI after on-pump cardiac surgery but incidence of RRT, postoperative sCr, and in-hospital mortality. Further high-quality randomized controlled trials and experimental researches comparing RIPC are desirable.