Urinary Dickkopf-3 and Acute Kidney Injury
(WorldNews Health)

Study Questions: Can urinary dickkopf-3 (DKK3) levels identify patients at high risk of post-cardiac surgery acute kidney injury (AKI)? Methods: This is an observational study in which the authors measured urinary DKK3 levels in two cohorts of patients undergoing cardiac surgery; a derivation cohort (n = 733) and a validation cohort (n = 216). The validation cohort was a subset of the RenalRIP trial, which assessed the impact of presurgical ischemic preconditioning on long-term kidney function. They examined the association between DKK3 and AKI, persistent renal dysfunction, and the need for dialysis. In the...