Effect of Hydroxyethyl Starch on Acute Kidney Injury After Living Donor Hepatectomy

Concerns about the adverse effects of hydroxyethyl starch (HES) on renal function have been raised in recent studies involving critically ill patients. We aimed to evaluate the effect of HES on acute kidney injury (AKI) after living donor right hepatectomy.

We performed a 1:3 propensity score matching analysis of the medical records of 1641 living donors who underwent a donor right hepatectomy. They were divided into the control group (n = 60), who received only crystalloids, and the colloid group (n = 1,581), who received HES 130/0.4 and crystalloids. Postoperative AKI was determined by AKI Network (AKIN) and Risk, Injury, Failure, Loss, End-stage (RIFLE) criteria.

A 1:3 propensity score matching was performed in 206 donors, 54 donors in the control group and 152 donors in the colloid group. For the matched colloid group, the median amount of 7.65 mL/kg (interquartile range, 6.64-9.20) of colloid and 58.19 mL/kg (interquartile range, 45.63-71.51) of crystalloid were given. The median amount of administered crystalloid in the control group was 56.48 mL/kg (interquartile range, 47.94-76.12) after propensity score matching. The incidences of AKI were not different between the control and colloid groups (P = .460 by AKIN criteria; P = .999 by RIFLE criteria).

Intraoperative administration of HES may not be associated with AKI after living donor hepatectomy. This result can provide useful information on perioperative fluid management in living liver donors.