COMT-Val158Met-polymorphism is not a risk factor for acute kidney injury after cardiac surgery.

Background. Cardiac surgery-associated acute kidney injury (CSA-AKI) depicts a major complication after cardiac surgery using cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Objective. CSA-AKI has clearly been linked to increased perioperative morbidity and mortality. Dysregulations of vasomotor tone are assumed to be causal for CSA-AKI. While catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is involved in metabolizing catecholamines, a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the COMT gene leads to different enzyme activities according to genotype. Pilot studies found associations between those COMT genotypes and CSA-AKI. Methods. We prospectively included 1741 patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery using cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Patients were genotyped for COMT-Val158Met-(G/A) polymorphism (rs4680). Results. Demographic characteristics and procedural data revealed no significant differences between genotypes. No association between COMT genotypes and the RIFLE criteria could be detected. A multiple linear regression analysis for postoperative creatinine increase revealed highly significant associations for aortic cross-clamp time (P < 0.001), CPB time (P < 0.001), norepinephrine (P < 0.001), and age (P < 0.001). No associations were found for COMT genotypes or baseline creatinine. With an R-2 = 0.39 and a sample size of 1741, the observed power of the regression analysis was >99%. Conclusions. Based on our results, we can rule out an association between the COMT-Val158Met-(G/A) polymorphism and the appearance of CSA-AKI.