ASN's Mission

To create a world without kidney diseases, the ASN Alliance for Kidney Health elevates care by educating and informing, driving breakthroughs and innovation, and advocating for policies that create transformative changes in kidney medicine throughout the world.

learn more

Contact ASN

1401 H St, NW, Ste 900, Washington, DC 20005

email@asn-online.org

202-640-4660

The Latest on X

Kidney Week

Please note that you are viewing an archived section from 2019 and some content may be unavailable. To unlock all content for 2019, please visit the archives.

Abstract: TH-PO081

AKI Is a Rare Complication of Therapeutic Paracentesis Among Inpatients with Cirrhosis

Session Information

Category: Acute Kidney Injury

  • 101 AKI: Epidemiology, Risk Factors, and Prevention

Authors

  • Sharma, Shreyak, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
  • Seethapathy, Harish Shanthanu, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brookline, Massachusetts, United States
  • Zhao, Sophia, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brookline, Massachusetts, United States
  • Allegretti, Andrew S., Massachusetts General Hospital, Brookline, Massachusetts, United States
  • Leaf, David E., Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Background

AKI is a feared complication of therapeutic paracentesis. However, prior studies that assessed AKI incidence following paracentesis were limited by small sample sizes (most had <40 patients) and restricted generalizability (e.g., exclusion of inpatients).

Methods

We conducted a large, retrospective, “real-world” cohort study of all adult inpatients with cirrhosis who underwent a therapeutic paracentesis (>1L) while admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital between 2016 and 2018. We assessed the incidence and severity of paracentesis-associated AKI based on changes in SCr. AKI and its severity were defined based on KDIGO guidelines. We also performed stratified analyses to assess whether the incidence of AKI differed across subgroups.

Results

A total of 252 paracenteses were performed in 101 cirrhotic patients. IV albumin was administered in 77% of paracenteses. The overall incidence of AKI was 3%. AKI severity was as follows: 50% stage 1, 12.5% stage 2, and 37.5% stage 3. The incidence of AKI was similar when stratified by age (<60 vs. ≥60 years), baseline eGFR (<60 vs. ≥60 ml/min/1.73m2), and MELD score (<20 vs. ≥20). Patients who received lower compared to higher volume paracenteses (≤3L vs. >3L) had a higher incidence of AKI (6% vs. 1.3%; P=0.03), however, these patients were also less likely to have received IV albumin (65% vs. 84%; P<0.001). Patients with CHF had higher rates of AKI compared to patients without CHF (9% vs. 2.3%; P=0.03).

Conclusion

In a large cohort of inpatients with cirrhosis undergoing therapeutic paracentesis, we found that post-procedure AKI rates were low. This finding was consistent across multiple subgroups, with the notable exception of CHF. Therapeutic paracentesis with IV albumin replacement is a procedure that can generally be performed without significant concern for AKI.