Kidney Injury Associated With Joint Replacement Surgery

An Australian study has found that as many as 15% of elective joint surgery patients at a large hospital have gone on to experience acute kidney injury (AKI) following their surgery. Previous studies of AKI had come up with an incidence rate of approximately 2%.

“In the context that any episode of AKI is associated with increased mortality, longer hospitalization and an increase in the odds of both further episodes of AKI and the later development of chronic kidney disease, an AKI rate of nearly 15% is worrying, ” wrote lead researcher Lara A. Kimmel, M.D., of the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, and her colleagues.

According to a report in Renal & Urology News, for the study, the researchers examined the medical records of 425 patients who had elective hip or knee replacement surgery at Alfred Hospital between 2011 and June 2013. They established that increasing BMI (body mass index) was the most significant factor. Obesity is an established risk factor for AKI, and the median BMI of this group was over 31 kg/m². An older age was also associated with the disease.

The report states that for most patients, AKI resolved by the time the patients were discharged from the hospital. However doctors were aware that an increased mortality risk persists even if renal function recovers. They encourage prospective research to further understand the short- and long-term risks of AKI in the joint replacement population.