Incidence of Postsurgical AKI for Emergent Surgery and Associated Clinical Outcomes

Background: The purpose of this study is to identify the incidence of AKI in the two weeks immediately following an emergent surgical procedure in patients that did not received dialysis prior to their surgery. Our goal is to determine how often AKI is developed after an emergent procedure with the end goal of better identifying ways to prevent post-surgical AKI. Methods: The target population is patients with an Emergent surgical procedure during their encounter (ASA Class 1-5E) admitted between October 1st, 2023 and May of 2024 at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical Center. Patients with Inpatient dialysis before the surgery were excluded. AKI was determined by retrospectively analyzing serum creatinine data, using the lowest pre-surgical creatinine level during the encounter as the baseline. The KDIGO criteria were applied, excluding urine output values. Patient outcomes were compared between those who developed AKI and those who did not. Results: After excluding patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and those treated for AKI prior to surgery, 827 patients were analyzed. Of these, 137 (16.6%) developed AKI, while 680 (83.4%) did not. Significant differences were found in median length of stay (15.5 days for the AKI group vs. 6.5 days for the non-AKI group). The mortality rate was also significantly higher in the AKI group (13%). Demographics and comorbidities are provided within the table below for the two sample groups. Conclusion: The preliminary findings indicate that a significant population develops AKI following emergent surgery, suggesting that further research is needed to identify factors contributing to post-surgical AKI and potential preventive measures.