Various biological indicators are reportedly associated with postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) in the surgical treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, only a few studies have evaluated the association between the preoperative prognostic nutritional index (PNI) and postoperative AKI. This study evaluated the association of the preoperative PNI and postoperative AKI in HCC patients. We retrospectively analyzed 817 patients who underwent open hepatectomy between December 2007 and December 2015. Multivariate regression analysis was performed to evaluate the association between the PNI and postoperative AKI. Additionally, we evaluated the association between the PNI and outcomes such as postoperative renal replacement therapy (RRT) and mortality. Cox regression analysis was performed to assess the risk factors for one-year and five-year mortality. In the multivariate analysis, high preoperative PNI was significantly associated with a lower incidence of postoperative AKI (odds ratio (OR): 0.92, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.85 to 0.99, p = 0.021). Additionally, diabetes mellitus and the use of synthetic colloids were significantly associated with postoperative AKI. PNI was associated with postoperative RRT (OR: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.60 to 0.98, p = 0.032) even after adjusting for other potential confounding variables. In the Cox regression analysis, high PNI was significantly associated with low one-year mortality (Hazard ratio (HR): 0.87, 95% CI: 0.81 to 0.94, p < 0.001), and five-year mortality (HR: 0.93, 95% CI: 0.90-0.97, p < 0.001). High preoperative PNI was significantly associated with a lower incidence of postoperative AKI and low mortality. These results suggest that the preoperative PNI might be a predictor of postoperative AKI and surgical prognosis in HCC patients undergoing open hepatectomy.
Keywords: acute kidney injury; hepatocellular carcinoma; mortality; prognostic nutritional index.