Continuous renal replacement therapy with the addition of CytoSorb cartridge in critically ill patients with COVID-19 plus acute kidney injury: A case-series

Abdulrahman Alharthy, Fahad Faqihi, Ziad A. Memish, Abdullah Balhamar, Nasir Nasim, Ahmad Shahzad, Hani Tamim, Saleh A. Alqahtani, Peter G. Brindley, Dimitrios Karakitsos

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

Our aim was to investigate continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) with CytoSorb cartridge for patients with life-threatening COVID-19 plus acute kidney injury (AKI), sepsis, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and cytokine release syndrome (CRS). Of 492 COVID-19 patients admitted to our intensive care unit (ICU), 50 had AKI necessitating CRRT (10.16%) and were enrolled in the study. Upon ICU admission, all had AKI, ARDS, septic shock, and CRS. In addition to CRRT with CytoSorb, all received ARDS-net ventilation, prone positioning, plus empiric ribavirin, interferon beta-1b, antibiotics, hydrocortisone, and prophylactic anticoagulation. We retrospectively analyzed inflammatory biomarkers, oxygenation, organ function, duration of mechanical ventilation, ICU length-of-stay, and mortality on day-28 post-ICU admission. Patients were 49.64 ± 8.90 years old (78% male) with body mass index of 26.70 ± 2.76 kg/m2. On ICU admission, mean Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II was 22.52 ± 1.1. Sequential Organ Function Assessment (SOFA) score was 9.36 ± 2.068 and the ratio of partial arterial pressure of oxygen to fractional inspired concentration of oxygen (PaO2/FiO2) was 117.46 ± 36.92. Duration of mechanical ventilation was 17.38 ± 7.39 days, ICU length-of-stay was 20.70 ± 8.83 days, and mortality 28 days post-ICU admission was 30%. Nonsurvivors had higher levels of inflammatory biomarkers, and more unresolved shock, ARDS, AKI, and pulmonary emboli (8% vs. 4%, P <.05) compared to survivors. After 2 ± 1 CRRT sessions with CytoSorb, survivors had decreased SOFA scores, lactate dehydrogenase, ferritin, D-dimers, C-reactive protein, and interleukin-6; and increased PaO2/FiO2 ratios, and lymphocyte counts (all P <.05). Receiver-operator-curve analysis showed that posttherapy values of interleukin-6 (cutoff point >620 pg/mL) predicted in-hospital mortality for critically ill COVID-19 patients (area-under-the-curve: 0.87, 95% CI: 0.81-0.93; P =.001). No side effects of therapy were recorded. In this retrospective case-series, CRRT with the CytoSorb cartridge provided a safe rescue therapy in life-threatening COVID-19 with associated AKI, ARDS, sepsis, and hyperinflammation.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)E101-E112
JournalArtificial Organs
Volume45
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2021

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • acute kidney injury
  • acute respiratory distress syndrome
  • continuous renal replacement therapy with cytosorb
  • hyperinflammation
  • thromboembolism

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Bioengineering
  • Medicine (miscellaneous)
  • Biomaterials
  • Biomedical Engineering

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