Study States 3-fold Increase in Acute Dialysis After Cardiac, Vascular Surgeries

The use of acute dialysis after surgery increased three-fold, states study published in CMAJ.

Acute kidney injury is a serious complication after surgery and can lead to death or result in compromised quality of life for people who do survive.

Dialysis - Hemodialysis, Peritoneal Dialysis and Role of Diet and Drugs
Dialysis is an artificial process for removing excess water and waste from the blood. Hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis are the types of dialysis.

Researchers conducted a large study of 552 672 patients in Ontario who had elective major surgery at 118 hospitals between 1995 and 2009 to understand trends in acute dialysis. They found that of the 552 672 patients, 2231 received acute dialysis within 14 days after surgery. Almost half of the dialysis patients — 937 people — died within three months after the surgery. Of the people who survived, 27% (352 of 1294) required long-term dialysis. The incidence of acute dialysis increased from 0.2% to 0.6% over the 15-year study period.

"This study shows an important increase in the complication of severe acute kidney injury treated with dialysis after cardiac and vascular surgeries," writes Dr. Amit Garg, Western University, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES), Toronto, with coauthors. "Outcomes for patients treated with acute dialysis after surgery remain poor."

"Our results should prompt renewed efforts to develop and test interventions to prevent severe acute kidney injury and to attenuate the high burden of death and end-stage renal disease after such injury has occurred," concludes Dr. Nausheen Siddiqui, University of Toronto, with coauthors.

Quiz on Kidney
The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs, each about the size of a fist, and are located just below the rib cage, one on each side of your spine.

Healthy kidneys filter about half a cup of blood every minute, removing wastes and extra water to make urine. The urine flows from the kidneys to the bladder through two thin tubes of muscle called ureters, one on each side of your bladder. The bladder stores urine. The kidneys, ureters, and bladder are partof the urinary tract.

kidneys remove wastes and extra fluid from your body. Kidneys also remove acid that is produced by the cells of your body and maintain a healthy balance of water, salts, and minerals-such as sodium, calcium, phosphorus and potassium-in your blood ().

Without this balance, nerves, muscles, and other tissues in the body may not work normally.

Kidneys also make hormones that help

Control your blood pressure
Make red blood cells
Keep your bones strong and healthy

Source-Eurekalert

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