Prevention of Acute Kidney Injury by Erythropoietin in Patients Undergoing Thoracic Aorta Surgery With Hypothermic Cardiac Arrest

During thoracic aortic surgery, hypothermic cardiac arrest causes aortic ischemia and reperfusion (IR) periods, respectively. Aortic ischemia results in an ischemic insult to the lower extremities and successive reperfusion results in injury to remote organs, including kidneys. So, there has been considerable interest in the development of therapeutic strategies aimed at attenuating IR injury. One such group of agents that are attracting interest due to their potential protective effects on vascular endothelium is the erythropoietin.

However, the effect of erythropoietin on renal injury induced by aortic IR in humane has not been fully clarified. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine whether the prophylactic administration of erythropoietin reduce the incidence of acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients undergoing thoracic aorta surgery with hypothermic cardiac arrest. The investigators administrate the erythropoietin single bolus (500 IU/kg intravenously) 30 min before the commencement of ischemia. The differences between the control and study groups are observed by clinical indicators such as serum creatinine, TNF-α, NGAL.