Renal echography for predicting acute kidney injury in critically ill patients: a prospective observational study

Objective: To investigate the diagnostic performances of renal resistive index (RRI) and semiquantitative power Doppler ultrasound (PDU) scores in predicting acute kidney injury (AKI) stage 3 in critically ill patients.Methods: This prospective observational study included 148 patients (80 with reduced cardiac index [CI], 68 with maintained CI). RRI and semiquantitative PDU scores were measured within 6 h after intensive care unit admission. AKI was defined according to Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes criteria.Results: A negative correlation between RRI and PDU score (r = -0.517, p < 0.001) and a positive correlation between PDU score and CI (r = 0.193, p = 0.019) were found, whereas RRI was not correlated with CI (r = 0.131, p = 0.121). The predictive value of RRI for AKI stage 3 was similar between CI-reduced (area under the curve [AUC] 0.761, 95% confidence interval 0.650-0.851, p < 0.001) and CI-maintained (AUC 0.786, 95% confidence interval 0.665-0.878, p < 0.001) patients. Conversely, PDU score could effectively predict AKI stage 3 in CI-reduced patients (AUC 0.872, 95% confidence interval 0.778-0.936, p < 0.001) but not in CI-maintained patients (AUC 0.669, 95% confidence interval 0.544-0.778, p = 0.071). The predictive value of PDU score for AKI stage 3 was statistically different between CI-reduced and CI-maintained patients (p = 0.021).Conclusions: PDU scores could effectively predict AKI stage 3 in CI-reduced patients but not in CI-maintained patients. RRI is a poor predictor of AKI stage 3 in patients with reduced or maintained CI.