Renal replacement therapies for prevention of radiocontrast-induced nephropathy: a systematic review

Radiocontrast-induced nephropathy (RCIN) is an important cause of acute kidney injury, increasing in-hospital and long-term mortality. It is controversial whether prophylactic renal replacement therapy (RRT) may reduce a patient's risk of RCIN when compared with standard medical therapy (SMT).

We searched through PubMed and bibliographies of retrieved articles. Published studies of RRT for RCIN prevention in patients receiving radiocontrast were included. The primary endpoint was RCIN incidence, defined as an increase in serum creatinine ≥0.5 mg/dL. Results were combined on the risk ratio (RR) scale. Random-effects models were used. Sensitivity analyses were defined a priori to evaluate the effects of RRT modality, study design, and sample size.

Nine randomized controlled and 2 nonrandomized trials were included (n = 1010 patients); 8 studies used hemodialysis (HD) and 3 used hemofiltration or hemodiafiltration. Nine studies had data for primary endpoint; RCIN incidence was 23.3% in the RRT group and 21.2% in SMT. RRT did not decrease RCIN incidence compared with SMT (risk ratio [RR] 1.02; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.54-1.93); however, intertrial heterogeneity was high. In sensitivity analyses, limiting to only HD studies significantly reduced heterogeneity. HD appeared to increase RCIN risk (RR 1.61; 95% CI, 1.13-2.28) and had no effect on need for permanent RRT or progression to end-stage renal disease (RR 1.47; 95% CI, 0.56-3.89).

In this updated meta-analysis, periprocedural RRT did not decrease the incidence of RCIN compared with SMT. HD appears to actually increase RCIN risk.