‘Acute kidney injury after surgery is a frequently underestimated problem,’ emphasises Prof Alexander Zarbock, director of the Department of Anaesthesiology, Surgical Intensive Care Medicine and Pain Therapy at the University Hospital Münster (UKM) and lead author of the study. ‘We were able to show that the intervention can be implemented in hospitals across Europe. It does not require high-tech equipment, but rather early identification of high-risk patients using innovative biomarkers and a well-coordinated team that acts attentively in the first hours after surgery.’
The BigpAK-2 study is one of the largest investigations to date on the prevention of postoperative kidney injury. A total of 7,873 people at 34 European hospitals were examined after major surgical procedures, of whom 1,180 were classified as particularly at risk on the basis of clinical risk factors and positive biomarkers. The UKM served as the coordinating study centre. Participants were randomly assigned to either standard care or the intervention group receiving the preventive care protocol. The study endpoint was the occurrence of moderate or severe acute kidney injury within the first 72 hours after surgery.
For clinical practice, these new findings represent an important advance. The research team hopes that the results will be incorporated into international guidelines, thereby improving the care of millions of patients.
Thilo von Groote received financial support for his research through the ‘Clinician Scientist CareerS’ programme of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Münster and the German Research Foundation (DFG). The programme enabled him to pursue his research in facultative time alongside the demanding phase of specialist medical training.
Source: University of Münster