L’insuffisance rénale aiguë congestive en chirurgie cardiaque

Background: Every year, more than 2 million people undergo cardiac surgery including 15 000 Canadians (1). Acute kidney injury remain a frequent complication in this setting which can affect up to 39% of patients (2). This complication is associated with a significant increase in the risk of short-term and long-term mortality after cardiac surgery (1).  Multiple mechanisms can lead to acute kidney injury in the peri-operative period which complexify prevention and treatment. Among them, multiple clinical factors can result in an increase in venous pressure leading to a state of systemic congestion deleterious to kidney function in addition to other organs. The detection of congestion at the bedside of patients after cardiac surgery could be used to identify patients at risk of developing congestive complications such as congestive acute kidney injury as well as opening possibilities for prevention and treatment. Doppler ultrasound is a non-invasive technology enabling the assessment of blood flow velocity within the venous system. A reduction of systemic venous compliance lead to the appearance of alterations in portal vein flow and intra-renal venous flow. The objectives of the work presented in this thesis were the following: To determine the prevalence and predictive factor associated with the appearance of venous flow alterations during the intra-operative and post-operative period, to determine if their detection is associated with acute kidney injury in the post-operative period and to determine the clinical significance of their detection in the immediate post-operative period.  Main results:  This thesis is comprised of 3 cohort studies including a total of 1497 ultrasound asessments in 362 patients. Alterations in venous Doppler signals were observed in a subtantial proportion of patients during the per-operative period, from 10.8% to 24.3% depending on the time of assessment and the site assessed.  We observed significant correlations between venous Doppler alterations and other clinical markers of congestion including central venous pressure, NT-pro-BNP and fluid balance. Furthermore, we observed that portal flow pulsatility and abnormal patterns of intrarenal venous flow were correlated.  Using repeated assessments in a cohort of 145 patients, we observed that portal flow pulsatility and severe alterations in intrarenal venous flow were associated with the subsequent development of acute kidney injury in the post-operative period. A re-analysis of this data suggested that a grading system combining mutliple Doppler assesments at intensive care admission after cardiac surgery including heaptic veins, the portal vein and intrarenal veins may be able to identify patients at risk of developping acute kidney injury with high specificity.  Conclusions:  In the context of cardiac surgery, Doppler ultrasound can be used to identify alterations in peripheral venous Doppler signals suggestive of a congestion phenomenon and may be able to anticipate complications related to venous congestion such as acute kidney injury.

Keyphrases: insuffisance cardiaque, Acute kidney injury, Cardiac surgery, Ultrasound, Fluid therapy, Intensive care, Cardiology, Anesthesiology, Nephrology, Congestive heart failure