NGAL, an Early Predictive Marker of Acute Kidney Injury After Cardiac Surgery in Neonates and Infants

Urinary NGAL has been shown to be an early marker of acute kidney injury (AKI) following paediatric cardiac surgery (2 hours off pump). Previous studies showed that an early increase of urinary NGAL following cardiopulmonary bypass was predictive of AKI. Several studies included heterogeneous populations of children undergoing cardiac surgery, but NGAL has not been studied in neonates after open heart surgery, neither has been identified the threshold for accurate prediction of severe AKI requiring renal replacement therapy. The aim of this observational cohort study is to describe postoperative kinetics of urinary NGAL in neonates and to identify the threshold for accurate prediction of severe AKI requiring renal replacement therapy in neonates and infants undergoing cardiac surgery