Serum neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin as an early biomarker of acute kidney injury in subjects undergoing percutaneous transluminal coronary angiogram with normal EGFR

Introduction: Detecting AKI in a timely fashion with the current AKIN staging criteria is a challenge because the diagnosis of AKI is usually based on changes in serum creatinine (SCr) which is a poor marker of early renal dysfunction. Aim: To study the role of Serum Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalcin (NGAL) as early biomarker for the detection of Contrast induced acute kidney injury (CIAKI) in subjects undergoing Percutaneous transluminal coronary angiogram (PTCA) with normal eGFR. Materials and Methods: Prospective cohort study was conducted, where SCr and serum NGAL were serially measured in a heterogeneous group of subjects (n=60) presenting to cardiology department. Results: The study population consisted of 60 subjects. All subjects were divided into 2 groups “CIAKI group” and “no-CIAKI group” according to predefined definition. The serum NGAL increased and reached its peak at 4 hours after contrast media (CM) administration and did not returned to baseline by 24 hours while the SCr increased at 24 hours and reached peak at 48 hours respectively (P<0.001).Thus, 4 hours after CM administration were considered to be appropriate time point for NGAL measurement and there was no significant correlation between serum NGAL with SCr at 0 hours, 4hours, 24 hours and 48hours. Conclusion: In our study, we found that serum NGAL promises to be a simple, safe, non-invasive and reliable early biomarker for predicting possible onset of CIAKI following contrast administration.