Acute Kidney Injury During Sepsis and Prognostic Role of Coexistent Chronic Heart Failure

Background: The recently updated definition of sepsis considers pathophysiologic mechanisms to guide initial therapy. Clearly, generalized recommendations for sepsis therapy may be limited by pre-existing multimorbidity in addition to sepsis-related multi-organ failure. In particular, a recommendation regarding fluid rescue therapy may require adequate cardiac function and/or the absence of sepsis-induced cardiomyopathy. In all sepsis patients with compromised cardiac function or sepsis-induced cardiomyopathy, a patient-specific therapy regimen is required to prevent pulmonary edema and early death. Similarly, in sepsis, acute kidney injury with or without pre-existing chronic kidney disease requires attention to be paid to excretory renal function to avoid hypervolemia-mediated acute heart failure. In addition, hyponatremia related to intravascular hypovolemia may be explained by vasopressin stimulation. However, hypothetically, vasopressin hyporesponsiveness may contribute to sepsis-related acute kidney injury. In this review, relevant cardiorenal pathomechanisms will be assessed in the context of sepsis therapy. Conclusions: In conclusion, therapy for sepsis with acute kidney injury has to take cardiac comorbidity, if present, into account. The extent to which vasopressin hyporesponsiveness aggravates sepsis-mediated hypovolemia and renal insufficiency should remain a subject of further study.