Bioethical aspects in the safety of cardiovascular surgery patients and their renal protection. Systematic review

Abstract

Renal dysfunction is common and can be severe in patients requiring cardiac surgery. There is currently a growing international interest in the declaration of Safe Health Units, around the safety of the surgical patient. This interest is influenced at the same time by utilitarianism and the defense of the great value of human life. The general objective was to analyze, from the bioethics of health care and the contents of surgical patient safety, acute kidney injury associated with cardiac surgery. A systematic review was carried out using the PRISMA methodology in PubMed databases with articles published in the last five years. The pathophysiology of the entity studied is complex and still poorly understood. In this period, there was a great interest in investigating acute kidney injury associated with cardiac surgery, however, no other studies were found that addressed this issue from a personalist bioethical approach. High scientific quality and methodological rigor were found in the included studies, assessed by the predominance of systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and multicenter, randomized, double-blind controlled studies. An interesting and novel field is initiated, which facilitates, from perspectives with a comprehensive and more humane assessment, decision-making on acute kidney injury associated with cardiac surgery.