Risk Factors of Acute Kidney Injury Following Orthotopic Liver Transplantation.

By a retrospective study of 242 patients undergoing orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT), Zhang et al.1 determined the prevalence and the risk factors of acute kidney injury (AKI) in the early postoperative stage (first week after surgery) and its outcomes in the fourth week after surgery. They showed that incidence of AKI was up to 55.4% within 1 week after OLT and many perioperative risk factors were attributable to the development and severity of post-OLT AKI. Given that post-OLT AKI has been associated significantly with shortand longterm postoperative adverse outcomes,2 their findings have potential practical implications. However, there are several questions in the methodology and results of their study on which we would like to invite the authors’ comments.