Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jan 16, 2015; 3(1): 10-19
Published online Jan 16, 2015. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v3.i1.10
Evaluation of chronic kidney disease in chronic heart failure: From biomarkers to arterial renal resistances
Massimo Iacoviello, Marta Leone, Valeria Antoncecchi, Marco Matteo Ciccone
Massimo Iacoviello, Cardiology Unit, Cardiothoracic Department, University Hospital Policlinico Consorziale of Bari, 70124 Bari, Italy
Marta Leone, Valeria Antoncecchi, Marco Matteo Ciccone, Department of Emergency and Organ Transplantation, University of Bari, 70124 Bari, Italy
Author contributions: Iacoviello M decided the structure and contents of the review, contributed to the writing and revision of the paper and finally approved the submitted version; Leone M and Antoncecchi V reviewed all the literature concerning the review, contributed to the writing and revision of the paper and approved the submitted version; Ciccone MM contributed to the decision about structure and contents of the review as well as to the revision of the paper and final approval of the submitted version.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Massimo Iacoviello, MD, PhD, Cardiology Unit, Cardiothoracic Department, University Hospital Policlinico Consorziale of Bari, Piazza Giulio Cesare 11, 70124 Bari, Italy. massimo.iacoviello@policlinico.ba.it
Telephone: +39-08-05594162 Fax: +39-08-05478796
Received: July 30, 2014
Peer-review started: July 30, 2014
First decision: September 16, 2014
Revised: October 20, 2014
Accepted: October 28, 2014
Article in press: December 23, 2014
Published online: January 16, 2015
Abstract

Chronic kidney disease and its worsening are recurring conditions in chronic heart failure (CHF) which are independently associated with poor patient outcome. The heart and kidney share many pathophysiological mechanisms which can determine dysfunction in each organ. Cardiorenal syndrome is the condition in which these two organs negatively affect each other, therefore an accurate evaluation of renal function in the clinical setting of CHF is essential. This review aims to revise the parameters currently used to evaluate renal dysfunction in CHF with particular reference to the usefulness and the limitations of biomarkers in evaluating glomerular dysfunction and tubular damage. Moreover, it is reported the possible utility of renal arterial resistance index (a parameter associated with abnormalities in renal vascular bed) for a better assesment of kidney disfunction.

Keywords: Heart failure, Biomarkers, Doppler, Renal resistance index, Chronic kidney disease

Core tip: In the clinical setting of chronic heart failure the evaluation of renal dysfunction is essential. This review revises the currently available markers of renal function in chronic heart failure for a better characterization of renal function. Moreover, it is discussed the potential utility of a Doppler derived parameter, the renal resistance index, which is associated with abnormalities in the kidney vascularization.