Objectives: to determine whether Neutrophile Genlatinase Associated Lipocalin (NGAL) would be a valid indicator to diagnose early acute kidney injury in children with congenital heart disease after openheart surgery. Subjects and Methods: This descriptive study recruited 206 patients who' underwent openheart surgery in National Hospital of Pediatrics from 1/07/2012 to 6/31/2013. pRIFLE criteria of Acute Dialysis Quality Initiative (ADQI) were used to diagnose acute kidney injury (AKI). The urine was collected at the 2rd, 4th, and 12th hour after surgery. The mean values of NGAL were compared between the groups with or without AKI. Results: According to pRIFLE criteria, there were 32 patients who had AKI within 24 hours after surgery (15.5 percent). Concentration of urinary NGAL at 2rd, 4th, and 12th hour in AKI group were higher than those in the group without AKI (p0.001). NGAL at the 2nd hour postoperatively had the largest area under the ROC curve (0.87)
at the cut-off 66.2 ng/ml, the sensitivity and specificity were 93.6 percent and 83.0 percent respectively. The area under the curve of NGAL concentration at 4th hour after surgery was 0.83
the sensitivity and specificity at the cut-off 50.5 ng/ml were 86.2 percent aritd 80.7 percent, consecutively. The validity orthe test NGAL for diagnosis of AKI was reduced at 12th hour, and it is not a valid test for AKI at 24th hour post operation. Conclusions: The NGAL test is a good indicator to early detect AKI in open-heart surgery patients at the 2rd, 4th, and 12th hour after surgery.