Clinical performance of proenkephalin A 119-159 for the early diagnosis of acute kidney injury in patients with sepsis or septic shock

BackgroundSepsis-associated acute kidney injury (AKI) is a severe condition associated with unfavorable outcomes in critically ill patients, not least because of its delayed diagnosis and management due to limitations in the current standard of care. We aimed to evaluate the performance of sphingotest(R) penKid(R) for the early diagnosis of AKI in patients with sepsis or septic shock. MethodsPlasma proenkephalin A 119-159 (penKid) was measured in 120 healthy subjects and 529 critically ill sepsis patients. Subgroup analyses were performed for patients with and without a history of heart failure or hypertension. The clinical performance for the diagnosis of AKI within 48 hours (AKI48h) was calculated using the upper limit of the penKid reference range. To improve clinical decision-making, interpretation bands and likelihood ratios for optimized rule-in and rule-out performance were established. ResultsOf the 529 patients with sepsis or septic shock, 328 were male (62%), and the median age was 66 (interquartile range 56-75) years. Two hundred thirty-four (44%) patients were diagnosed with AKI48h, and those patients presented increased penKid levels on intensive care unit admission compared with patients without AKI48h, with an area under the curve of 0.87 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.84-0.90, p<0.0001). A penKid cut-off of 89 pmol/L, corresponding to the 97.5th percentile in the healthy reference population, resulted in 72% sensitivity (95% CI 66-77%), 83% specificity (95% CI 78-87%), 77% positive predictive value (95% CI 71-82%), 79% negative predictive value (95% CI 74-83%), a positive likelihood ratio of 4.2, and a negative likelihood ratio of 0.34 to diagnose AKI48h. An improved performance was obtained when patients with a history of chronic heart failure and/or hypertension were excluded. PenKid cutoff values of 54 pmol/L (>92% sensitivity) and 105 pmol/L (>92% specificity) were derived to establish actionable interpretation bands for diagnostic rule-in and rule-out. ConclusionsThe sphingotest(R) penKid(R) assay can facilitate an early diagnosis of AKI up to 48 hours before the KDIGO criteria are met. Based on the present results, the assay was registered as an aid in the early diagnosis of AKI in patients with sepsis or septic shock.