Nuclear DNA as Predictor of Acute Kidney Injury in Patients Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Graft: A Pilot Study

Objective: To measure the release of plasma nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and to assess the relationship between nuclear DNA level and acute kidney injury occurrence in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Setting: Cardiovascular anesthesiology and intensive care unit of a large tertiary-care university hospital. Design: Prospective observational study. Participants: Fifty adult patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Interventions: Nuclear DNA concentration was measured in the plasma. The relationship between the level of nuclear DNA and the incidence of acute kidney injury after coronary artery bypass grafting was investigated. Measurements and Main Results: Cardiac surgery leads to significant increase in plasma nuclear DNA with peak levels 12 hours after surgery (median [interquartile range] 7.0 [9.6-22.5] μg/mL). No difference was observed between off-pump and on-pump surgical techniques. Nuclear DNA was the only predictor of acute kidney injury between baseline and early postoperative risk factors. Conclusions: The authors found an increase of nuclear DNA in the plasma of patients who had undergone coronary artery bypass grafting, with a peak after 12 hours and an association of nuclear DNA with postoperative acute kidney injury.