Prospective evaluation of novel biomarkers of acute kidney injury in dogs following cardiac surgery under cardiopulmonary bypass

OBJECTIVE: To assess the occurrence of acute kidney injury (AKI) in dogs undergoing cardiac surgery under cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and explore associations between traditional and novel serum and urinary biomarkers. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study conducted between July 2018 and April 2019. SETTING: University teaching hospital. ANIMALS: Nineteen dogs undergoing cardiac surgery under CPB with preoperative serum creatinine <140 μmol/L (<1.6 mg/dl). INTERVENTIONS: Blood and urine samples were obtained at 4 time points: preoperatively following general anesthesia induction, immediately postoperatively, and 2 and 4 days postoperatively (T(1), T(2), T(3), and T(4)). AKI was defined as an increase in serum creatinine ≥26.4 μmol/L (≥0.3 mg/dl) above baseline within 48 hours. Serum creatinine, C‐reactive protein (CRP), symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA), inosine, beta‐aminoisobutyric acid (BAIB), urinary clusterin (uClus), and urinary cystatin B (uCysB) were measured. Data were log‐transformed (log(10)) when appropriate and assessed using linear mixed‐effects models. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: AKI occurred in 3 of 19 dogs (15.8%, 95% confidence interval: 0.047–0.384). Inosine increased at T(2) (adjusted mean ± standard error: 53 ± 5.6) in all dogs, and then gradually decreased. Log(10)uCysB increased at T(2) (2.3 ± 0.1) in all dogs and remained high. Log(10)CRP and log(10)uClus increased significantly at T(3) (1.9 ± 0.1 and 3.6 ± 0.1, respectively) in all dogs and remained increased. There was a significant positive association between serum creatinine and SDMA (P < 0.001, estimate ± standard error: 0.06 ± 0.00), between log(10)CRP and log(10)uClus (P < 0.001, 0.35 ± 0.08), between SDMA and creatinine as well as between SDMA and BAIB (P < 0.001, 11.1 ± 0.83 and P < 0.001, 1.06 ± 0.22, respectively) for all dogs at all time points. CONCLUSIONS: Inosine and uCysB concentrations changed in all dogs immediately following a surgery under CPB and may indicate tubular injury. Further studies are required to ascertain the usefulness of those biomarkers in early detection of AKI.