Objective To compare the RIFLE and AKIN diagnosis criteria for acute kidney injury ( AKI) in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Methods Patients undergoing cardiac surgery from January 2004 to June 2007 were retrospectively evaluated. RIFLE and AKIN criteria were employed for the diagnosis and staging of AKI which occurred 7 d after cardiac surgery. The diagnosis sensitivity and precision for prediction of hospital mortality were compared between these two criteria. Results One thousand and fifty-six patients were included in this study. There was no significant difference between the prevalence of AKI after cardiac surgery diagnosed by RIFLE criteria and that diagnosed by AKIN criteria (29.55% vs 31.06%, P>0.05). There was no significant difference between the total hospital mortality and the hospital mortality of each stage of AKI diagnosed by RIFLE criteria and those diagnosed by AKIN criteria ( P > 0. 05). Logistic regression analysis suggested that the relative risk of hospital mortality for AKI was similar between patients diagnosed by AKIN criteria and those diagnosed by RIFLE criteria. The area under the ROC curve for hospital mortality was 0. 856 for RIFLE and 0.865 for AKIN in all patients (P<0.001). Conclusion Compared to RIFLE criteria, AKIN criteria do not improve the sensitivity of diagnosis and predictive ability of hospital mortality of AKI after cardiac surgery.

Objective To develop a new method to expose the stellate ganglion to increase the success rate of establishing a dog model of atrial fibrillation indinced by sympathetic stimulation .Methods A total of 28 adult dogs were randomly divided into traditional group and improvement group , 14 dogs in each group .The stellate ganglions were separated by the two different methods , respectively , to establish a sympathetic stimulation induced atrial fibrillation model in all the dogs .Changes of vital signs , survival rate of the dogs and the voltage required to stimulate the stellate ganglion were recorded intraoperatively .Changes of cardiac electrophysiology were recorded before and after electric stimulation . The levels of released neurotransmitters were detected by immunohistochemistry . Results The survival rate of the improvement group was 100%(14/14), significantly higher than the 64.3%(9/14) of the traditional group (P<0.05). The operation time of the improvement group was 122.71 ±3.62 min, significantly shorter than the 269.44 ±8.79 min of the traditional group (P<0.05).The threshold voltage of the improvement group was significantly lower than that of the traditional group ( P<0.05) .Conclusions Our modified surgical procedure can effectively reduce the mortality of dogs , significantly shorten the operation time , and reduce the intraoperative blood loss , keeping a more intact stellate ganglion , and maintains a more stable voltage of electric stimulation , Therefore, it is a new method more suitable for establishment of a sympathetic stimulation induced atrial fibrillation model in dogs .

Objective To investigate the incidence, risk factors and outcome of acute kidney injury (AKI) following cardiac surgeries. Methods Clinical data of 1056 patients undergoing open heart surgery in Renji Hospital from January 2004 to June 2007 were retrospectively analyzed. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to evaluate possible pre-,intra-, and post-operative parameters associated with AKI according to AKI Network (AKIN). Results Of the 1056 patients, 328 (31.06%) developed AKI. In-hospital mortality was 4.07% in all discharges while 11.59% in AKI patients (P<0.01). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that increased age (OR=1.40), pre-operative hyperurieemia (OR=1.97), pre-operative left ventricular insufficiency (OR=2.53), combined surgery (OR=2.79), prolonged operation time (OR=1.43), post-operative circulation volume insufficiency (OR=11.08) were risk factors of AKI. Conclusions AKI is a common complication and associated with increased mortality following cardiac surgery. Increased age, pre-operative hyperuricemia, pre-operative left ventricular insufficiency, combined surgery, prolonged operation time, post-operative circulation volume insufficiency are useful in stratifying risk factors for the development of AKI.

Objective To investigate the incidence of acute kidney injury (AKI) post-orthotopic liver transplant (OLT) and its association with prognosis. Methods Data of 28 patients received single OLT in our hospital from 2004 to 2006 were retrospectively analyzed. The incidence of AKI was investigated by new acute kidney injury network (AKIN) criteria. The follow-up was over one year. The prognosis of AKI patients at day 28 and 1 year was evaluated by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. The association between AKI and prognosis was examined. Results A total of 193 patients were enrolled. The average age was (48.07±10.02) years old. The ratio of male to female was 4:1. One hundred and sixteen (60.1%) patients of post-OLT AKI were found, whose AKI stage 1, 2 and 3 were 50.0%, 21.6% and 28.4% respectively. Ten (8.6%) patients required renal replacement therapy (RRT) after OLT. In AKI post-OLT patients, day 28 and 1 year mortality were significantly higher than those in non-AKI patients (15.5% vs 0, 25.9% vs 3.9%, respectively, both P<0.05). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed the 1-year survival rates of AKI stage 1, 2, 3 post-OLT and non-AKl were 84.0%, 81.0%, 42.4% and 90.9%, respectively. The 1-year survival rate of non-AKI was significantly higher than that of AKI stage 1, 2, 3. The 1-year survival rate of AKI stage 3 was significantly lower than that of stage 1 and 2. There was no significant difference between AKI stage 1 and 2. Sct at 1 year post-OLT was significantly higher than that of baseline [(88.35±37.15) vs (73.70±33.88) μmol/L, P<0.05). The change of Scr value at 1 year compared to baseline in AKI patients was similar to non-AKI patients. However such change in AKI stage 2 and 3 was higher than that in stage 1. Conclusions The incidence of AKI post-OLT is quite high and associated to the poor prognosis in short and long periods. Renal function may decrease gradually which is associated to the AKI stage pest-OLTI.

Objective To investigate the value of urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) and liver-type fatty acid-binding proteins (L-FABP) in early diagnosis of acute kidney injury (AKI) after liver transplantation. Methods During 2007-2008, 25 liver transplant recipients were recruited. Blood and urinary samples were collected before operation and at 2, 4, 6,12, 24, 48, 72, 120 h after portal vein opening, and used to determine serum creatinine (Scr), as well as urinary NGAL and L-FABP, which were normalized to urinary creatinine. According to the Acute Kidney Injury Network (AKIN) criteria of AKI, all the patients were divided into AKI and non-AKI groups. Standard statistics were used along with ROC analysis to evaluate the diagnose value of selected markers. Results There were no significant differences in clinical parameters between non-AKI (n=14) and AKI (n=11) groups. Both groups had a transient rise in Scr 2-12 hours after surgery, but the rise lasted longer in AKI patients (2-24 hours). While urinary L-FABP rose transiently in both groups 2-120 hours following surgery, urinary NGAL was only slightly elevated at 2 h in the non-AKI group, but rose and stayed high from 2 to 6 h in the AKI group.ROC analysis revealed that NGAL (cut-off 43.02, 26.97 and 17.19 ng/mgCr, AUC 0.766, 0.773 and 0.773 at 2, 4 and 6 h, respectively) was better than L-FABP (cut-off 3451.75 ng/mgCr, AUC 0.760 at 4 h). Conclusion Urinary NGAL appears to be a sensitive and specific marker of AKI in liver transplant recipients, but these data need to be validated in larger prospective studies.