IntroductionThe incidence and factors associated with acute kidney injury (AKI) development after lower extremity bypass (LEB) are not well defined. The objective of this study is to determine the incidence and characteristics associated with the development of AKI in patients undergoing infrainguinal LEB.MethodsA retrospective review of all LEB surgeries in the Vascular Quality Initiative (VQI) registry from January 2003 to April 2015 was performed. AKI was defined as post-operative rise in creatinine (Cr) > 0.5 mg/dl or new renal impairment requiring dialysis. Demographic, procedural and clinical variables were collected. Patients on dialysis and those missing pre and post-operative Cr values were excluded. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify variables associated with the development of AKI following LEB.Results12,564 patients were included in the analysis; 509 (4%) developed AKI. Comparison of baseline characteristics between patients that developed AKI and those that did not are shown in the Table. In multivariate analysis, diabetes (OR 1.57, p<0.01), history of heart failure (OR 1.60, p<0.01), emergency surgery (OR 1.34, p<0.01), need for blood transfusion (OR 2.41, p<0.01) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) stages 2 (OR 1.39, p<0.01), 3(OR 2.85, p<0.01), and 4(OR 5.46, p<0.01) were all significantly associated with AKI. Factors associated with a lower incidence of AKI included smoking (OR 0.72, p<0.05), female gender (OR 0.69, p<0.01) and higher hemoglobin levels (OR 0.92, p<0.01).ConclusionsOverall, the development of AKI in a large contemporary database was 4%. Multiple clinical characteristics are associated with development of AKI, including history of heart failure, diabetes, CKD, emergency surgery and need for blood transfusion, and may help to identify at-risk patients. Further studies are needed to prospectively validate these findings and determine if postoperative AKI increases the mortality risk.