A patient undergoing major thoracic surgery has a urine output of 0.2 mL/kg/h. According to a recent study defining oliguria as a urine output less than 0.3 mL/kg/h, which of the following statements BEST describes the impact of urine output on the risk of postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI)?
Postoperative AKI is defined as a serum creatinine increase of at least 0.3 mg/dL within 48 hours after surgery or at least 1.5-fold within seven days after surgery. AKI occurs in approximately 13% of patients after major surgery and is associated with a longer hospital stay and increased mortality. There have been multiple reports identifying patient risk factors for AKI and seeking intraoperative events that predict AKI. Most reports have found associations between intraoperative oliguria and the development of AKI. It has been suggested that if oliguria is observed, fluid or other therapy could be initiated intraoperatively to decrease the risk...
