05 | 23 | 2008 Posted By Regan Zambri & Long

Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) Following Heart Attack May Mean Serious Danger: New Study

Patients who suffer a heart attack often subsequently develop acute kidney injury, a complication significantly increases a patient's risk of death.  The finding is the result of new research published in a recent edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Acute kidney injury (also called acute renal failure) leaves the kidney unable to perform its function of filtering waste from the body.  As a result, toxins accumulate in the blood, causing damage.  In heart attack patients and other high-risk groups, the incidence of acute kidney injury ranges from as much as 10% to 25% -- a number that many researchers believe is unacceptably high. 

In this latest study of approximately 147,000 heart attack patients, scientists at Yale University School of Medicine discovered that about 19% overall developed acute kidney injury, including 7 percent with mild kidney injury, 7 percent with moderate kidney injury, and 5 percent with severe acute kidney injury.  Researchers there also discovered a clear link between the severity of acute kidney injury and long-term mortality.  As many as 10 years after a surgery, acute kidney injury was still associated with a 15 - 33% increased risk of death, depending on the severity of the kidney damage.  Overall, fewer than 10% of patients who had severe acute kidney injury following a heart attack were alive 10 years later.

This study demonstrates that acute kidney injury following heart surgery signifies a long-term risk of premature death.  Even among patients with mild and moderate acute kidney injury -- which in most cases is short lived and clinically reversible -- an elevated risk of death persists after hospitalization and does not diminish over time. 

Researchers note that conventional teaching in many surgery laboratories holds that acute kidney injury in its mild form is inconsequential, although research such as this has repeatedly disproven the idea and highlighted the importance of preventing kidney injury when possible.  They also advise that heart attack patients who develop acute kidney injury should be closely monitored for months to years following their discharge from the hospital.

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