Neutrophil gelatinase associated lipocalin, an early biomarker for diagnosis of acute kidney injury after percutaneous coronary intervention

Abstract

Objectives:This study was designed to find the reliability of serum NGAL as an early and better diagnostic biomarker than that of serum creatinine for acute kidney injury after percutaneous coronary intervention in Pakistani population.Materials and methods:One hundred and fifty-one patients undergoing elective percutaneous coronary intervention were included and demographic data were recorded. Blood was drawn by venipuncture in clot activator vacutainers and serum was separated and stored at 4°C. Sample was drawn before the percutaneous procedure and subsequently sampling was done serially for 5 days.Results:The mean±SD serum NGAL pre-PCI (39.92± 10.35 μg/L) and 4 h post-PCI (100.42±26.07 μg/L) showed highly significant difference (p<0.001). The mean±SD serum creatinine pre-PCI (70.1±11.8 μmol/L) and post-PCI (71.2±11.6 μmol/L) showed significant difference (p=0.005) on day 2 onwards but mean microalbumin showed insignificant results (p=0.533). The serum NGAL predicted CI-AKI with sensitivity of 95.8% and specificity of 97.6% for a cut off value of 118 μg/L.Conclusion:Our results suggest that NGAL is an excellent early diagnostic biomarker for acute kidney injury in patients undergoing elective percutaneous coronary intervention.