Using RIFLE criteria to categorize postsurgical kidney
injury in 3,460 patients who underwent cardiac
surgery in one of seven Canadian hospitals, researchers
identified 24% of patients as being at risk, 7% as
having kidney injury, and 3% as experiencing renal failure.19 A U.S. study that used RIFLE criteria to retrospectively
categorize 1,358 patients who underwent
cardiac surgery at two New York hospitals found that 40% of patients developed postoperative acute kidney
injury.1