- What is already known about this topic and why is it important?
Acute kidney injury (AKI) is common in patients in the intensive care unit and is associated with an increased risk of short-term and long-term mortality and chronic kidney disease. There are few international studies exploring the long-term renal outcomes in patients who received extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) or renal replacement therapy (RRT) in ICU. Guy’s & St Thomas' Hospital (GSTT) NHS Foundation Trust is one of 5 commissioned national ECMO centres in the UK and provides a severe respiratory failure service to more than 1/5 of the population. Knowing the impact of AKI on long-term renal outcomes will inform the long-term management of this group of high-risk group patients treated at GSTT and help us improve our service.
- How will you carry out your study?
This is a part of an approved service evaluation project. Pseudoanonymised data collection will be collected from electronic medical records by the team of doctors who are working in the ICU.
- How will you decide which patients are included in your study?
Only patients who were older than 18 years old and received ECMO or RRT in the ICU at GSTT during 2010-2017 and survived will be included.
- How many patients do you anticipate including?
We aim to include around 400 patients, i.e. the number of patients who received ECMO or RRT at our institution and are assumed to be alive at 1 year.
- For how long will you follow up these patients?
Patients will be followed up for a minimum of 1 year (until December 2018).
- What value will UKRR data add to the project?
The UKRR will give us the most reliable data on the incidence of end-stage renal failure in this high-risk cohort at GSTT, which will enable us to develop GSTT specific recommendations for follow-up and longer-term management of this high-risk patient group. The aim is to improve our service.
- What new information will your study generate and how will this benefit patients?
The data will serve to develop appropriate guidelines and follow-up strategies for patients at GSTT who receive treatment with ECMO or RRT and leave hospital alive. The overarching aim is to improve the long-term outcome of this high risk patient group. The results will only apply to patients treated at GSTT and will not be generalisable.
