To our knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the relationship between DD and CI-AKI. The main finding of our study was that the elevation of admission DD was markedly related to the incidence of CI-AKI. DD >0.69 ug/L was found to be the best cutoff point for predicting CI-AKI with a sensitivity of 77.8% and a specificity of 57.3% after pPCI, which exhibited similar predict value to the Mehran score. Furthermore, DD >0.69 ug/L was also strongly associated with in-hospital and long-term mortality in this population.
Previous studies had demonstrated that an increased risk of CI-AKI in patients undergoing pPCI compare with elective PCI[18-20], as the patients who underwent pPCI usually accompanied by hemodynamic instability, severe heart failure, and insufficient hydration. In our study, the incidence of CI-AKI in patients undergoing pPCI was up to 13.1%, which was consistent with the data available in the literature[21, 22].
Multiple risk factors have been confirmed to be associated with CI-AKI and several risk models have been applied to predict CI-AKI in clinical practice. Merhan score is the most common tool for using in the assessment of the risk of CI-AKI. However, the score need 8 periprocedural risk factors including hypotension, intra-aortic balloon pump, congestive heart failure, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, age>75 years, anemia, and volume of contrast, some of which are not available before pPCI[17]. In our study, we also have found LVEF <0.45, SCr, perihypotension,use of IABP were independent risk factors for prediciting CI-AKI, as well as DD may be a new biomarker for predicting CI-AKI in patients undergoing pPCI, which was not significantly different from the Merhan CI-AKI score (P =0.410). In addition, the DD test is routinely performed at admission in our department for patients with cardivoscular disease. Therefore, compared with Mehran score, DD may be a more easily and timely available tool for identifying high-risk patients of CI-AKI in STEMI patients undergoing pPCI.
DD is a plasmin-derived soluble degradation product of cross-linked fibrin, which could provide a rapid assessment of thrombotic activity and the severity of thrombotic burden[23], reflecting the diagnosis and prognosis of many disorders. DD has been already widely accepted in diagnosis of venous thromboembolism and pulmonary embolism which is sensitive but not well specific[24-26]. Moreover, numerous studies found that DD testing was also valuable in other disease, especially cardiovascular disease such as acute aortic dissection[27], atrial fibrillation[28], heart failure[29, 30] and so on.
Previous studies also found that elevated DD level was a useful biomarker for kidney disease. Michael G. Shlipak et al evaluated a population-based cohort study of 5888 subjects aged ≥65 years from Cardiovascular Health Study, and showed that[31] DD levels were significantly higher among patients with renal insufficiency(P =0.0002) and increased as renal function declined regardless of cardiovascular disease status(p =0.004).The conclusion was similar to the study by Wannamethee, S. G et al, which indicated that activated coagulation marker (DD) increased with decreasing eGFR in elderly men[32]. Spring JL also demonstrated that[13] there was a statistically significant correlation between DD concentration and renal function in the critically ill patients. Another recent study[14] found that in patients undergoing cardiac surgery , prothrombin fragment 1.2(coagulation marker) levels were significantly higher in the AKI group(506±548 vs.999±704.1 pmol/L;p =0.018) and they were independently associated with eGFR reduction, with an area under the ROC of 0.744. The association between the degree of coagulation’s activation and AKI following cardiac operations may be partly explained by microcirculation impairment and dysfunction of endothelial cells. As were described above, DD were reported to be an important biomarker in patients with renal insufficiency or AKI. However, to our knowledge, there was not even a study focusing on the relationship between DD levels and CI-AKI. Now our results fill in this gap by documented that elevated DD level was a strong and independent predictor of CI-AKI after pPCI and CI-AKI, even after adjusting for potential confounding factors. Meanwhile, a pre-procedural DD levels>0.69 ug/ml was found to be a best cutoff point for predicting the risk of CI-AKI, with 77.8% sensitivity and 57.3% specificity, which exhibited similar predictive value to the Mehran score.
The mechanisms underlying the association between DD levels and CI-AKI is uncertain. The potential pathophysiological mechanism may be partly explained by following. First, DD levels were confirmed to be closely related to the occurrence of no-reflow after pPCI[33] indicating that the thrombus is unstable and easily to fall off into the circulation system, which may influence the renal blood flow and further lead to CI-AKI. Second, elevated DD levels is mainly cleared through renal excretion, so higher DD levels often reflect the injury of renal function, which indirectly revealing the decline in the kidney's ability to excrete the contrast agent, further to enhance the direct cytotoxicity of contrast agent. Third, DD levels also related to other well-known risk factors for CI-AKI, such as advanced age[34], heart failure[29, 30]. However, after adjusting above potential influence factors on DD, elevated admission DD levels remained a powerful risk factor of CI-AKI, which indicated that additional pathophysiological processes might play a role on DD in STEMI patients after pPCI DD. Finally, some studies[35, 36] found that prothrombotic states may active inflammatory reaction through inducing the release of IL-1β,IL6,P-selectin and so on,which may also be involved in the process of CI-AKI.
In addition, DD also was found to be potentially useful in diagnosis and prognosis in patients with AMI. Elevated serum levels of DD were first time discovered in acute transmural myocardial infarction patients after thrombolytic therapy with intravenous streptokmase in 1986[37]. Thereafter, several evidence revealed that the diagnostic and prognostic value of elevated DD in patients with AMI. A small, single-center study of 257 patients with acute chest pain by Bayes-Genis A et al[8] found that DD level >500 microg/L had an independent early diagnostic value for MI and increased the diagnostic sensitivity of the electrocardiogram and history from 73% to 92%. Furthermore, DD was found to be associated with poor outcomes in patients with AMI. Akgul O et al[10] demonstrated that a high admission DD level (>0.72 ug/ml FEU) was a powerful independent predictor of 6-month all-cause mortality. Another study of HORIZONS-AMI trial[38] showed admission DD levels were a strong predictor of MACE in patients treated with pPCI within 3 years follow up.Compared with patients with lower DD levels(<0.71 ug/ml), patients with higher DD levels(≥0.71 ug/ml) on admission were associated with an adjusted hazard ratio of 2.58 for MACE. In our study, poor prognosis for short- and long-term mortality in patients undergoing pPCI having higher DD levels were also observed. Compared with patients with lower DD levels(≤0.69 ug/ml), patients with higher DD levels(>0.69 ug/ml) had significantly higher incidences of in-hospital outcomes such as CI-AKI, mortality and required RRT,and increased hospital costs, as well as higher 6-month and 12-month mortality.Furthermore, DD levels>0.69 ug/ml was also associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality during 2 years of follow-up.
Limitations
We acknowledge several limitations in our study. First, this study was a single-center, observational study and may be affected by confounding and selection biases. However, we were careful to include consecutive patients. Second, data about peri-procedural hydration volume which may influence the incidence of CI-AKI was not recorded. Third, variations in the time to measurement may have led to missed peak levels of creatinine after the procedure,further to cause an underestimation of the true incidence of CI-AKI. Fourth, we did not analyze the relationship between DD level and the high-sensitivity C-reactive protein,other proinflammatory cytokines and the incidence of no-reflow in detail,the defined mechanism of DD-induced CI-AKI is still unclear,which should be evaluated in a future trial. Fifth, we just found an indicator may be related to the occurrence of CI-AKI, whose relationship is causal or accidental remains unclear.Sixth,the consensus definition of CI-AKI may be a potential confounder when considering the specific forms of AKI which may occur in variable timeframes.Although we tried to exclude other risk factors for renal failure,it is difficult to rule out the patients developing renal failure following contrast media exposure but not having contrast nephropathy completely.Seventh, the long term kidney function was limited in our study.Despite these limitations, our results provided useful insights into the correlation of serum DD levels with the incidence of CI-AKI.