Advances of biomarkers in acute kidney injury after non-cardiac surgery

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication after non-cardiac surgery with a variety of risk factors during perioperative period, resulting in adverse short and long-term outcomes of patients. Nowadays, early detection of injury in kidney is the first priori, development of novel biomarker making this possible. However, research in this field are mainly focused on cardiac surgery and ICU patients. In this article, it was reviewed the available literature on characteristics of promising AKI biomarkers that are currently the focus of preclinical and clinical investigations in non-cardiac surgery patients. These biomarkers include neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), liver-type fatty acid-binding protein (L-FABP), insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 7 (IGFBP-7) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 2 (TIMP-2). It was then described the clinical performance of these biomarkers for diagnosis and prognostication of AKI. Finally, the study on biomarker guided interventional therapy for patients at high risk of postoperative AKI was reviewed. Novel biomarker will play a more important role in the diagnosis and treatment for AKI in patients after non-cardiac surgery. Key words: Non-cardiac surgery; Acute kidney injury; Biomarker; Early diagnosis; Prognosis