A Novel Understanding of Serum Creatinine Levels as a Predictive Factor for Mortality Outcome in Aortic Disease

Abstract

Acute renal injury (AKI) is a complication that can occur after cardiac surgery, and since technological advancements and knowledge in medicine are exponentially expanding, it requires ongoing research. The study aims to evaluate the outcome of the treated electives of emergency aortic disease with high serum creatinine levels (SCr). Methods: The cohort included 183 patients, all of whom had an aortic disease and whose SCr levels were checked upon admission on the first day in the intensive care unit (ICU) and upon discharge from the hospital. We correlated SCr levels with in-hospital mortality and immediate mortality at least six months after discharge, with cross- clamp time and bypass time. Results: A high SCr level upon admission significantly predicts in- hospital mortality (p = 0.001) but not immediate mortality (p = 0.409). There is also a statistically significant correlation between the elevated SCr levels on the first day of ICU and aortic disease (p = 0.041) but not with immediate mortality (p = 0.119). We found a significant correlation between aortic disease and in-hospital mortality (p < 0.001) but no correlation between high SCr level on the first day of ICU and immediate mortality (p = 0.119). The cross-clamp time had a statistically significant correlation with elevated SCr level (p = 0.013) and in-hospital mortality (p = 0.001) but not with immediate mortality (p = 0.847). Furthermore, the bypass time was negatively correlated with a high SCr level on the first day of ICU (p = 0.090), with in-hospital mortality (p = 0.410) and immediate mortality (p = 0.625). We also found that patients with an aortic disease were not correlated with elevated creatinine levels at ICU discharge (p = 0.152) or long-term mortality (p = 0.106). Conclusions: The study only included a small portion of the elaborate surgical and medical management developed around cardiac patients who received invasive treatment. The conclusions 40 reached were nevertheless clearly relevant, evidenced by the significantly correlated statistics. This element, moving forward, motivates us to expand our research’s range, collect the most newly relevant data, and use it to benefit the patient; this work provides the beginning step in this process.