BACKGROUND 

Increasing evidence from randomised controlled trials supports the implementation of a six-measure care bundle proposed by the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) guidelines in patients at high risk for acute kidney injury (AKI) to reduce its incidence after cardiac surgery.

OBJECTIVE 

To assess compliance with the KDIGO bundle in clinical practice.

DESIGN 

Prospective observational multinational study.

SETTING 

Six international tertiary care centres, from February 2021 to November 2021.

PATIENTS 

Five hundred and thirty-seven consecutive patients undergoing cardiac surgery during a 1-month observational period.

INTERVENTIONS 

All patients were assessed for the postoperative implementation of the following measures: avoidance of nephrotoxic medication and radiocontrast agents whenever possible, strict glycaemic control, close monitoring of renal function, optimisation of haemodynamic and volume status and functional monitoring of haemodynamic status.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES 

The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients receiving fully compliant care. Secondary outcomes were occurrence of AKI and major adverse kidney event rate at day 30.

RESULTS 

The full care bundle was applied to 0.4% of patients. There was avoidance of nephrotoxic drugs in 15.6%, radiocontrast agents in 95.3% and hyperglycaemia in 39.6%. Close monitoring of urine output and serum creatinine was achieved in 6.3%, 57.4% underwent optimisation of volume and haemodynamic status, and 43.9% received functional haemodynamic monitoring. 27.2% developed AKI within 72 h after surgery. The average number of implemented measures was 2.6 ± 1.0 and did not differ between AKI or non-AKI patients (P = 0.854).

CONCLUSION 

Adherence with the KDIGO bundle was very low in cardiac surgery patients. Initiatives to improve guideline compliance might provide a strategy to mitigate the burden of AKI.