Acute renal failure is a frequent complication associated with significant morbidity and mortality in postoperative cardiac surgery.~The pathophysiology in this context is complex, poorly understood and the causes are multiple: underlying nephropathy, intra- or postoperative haemodynamic instability, the use of an extracorporeal circulation, inflammation, etc.~One of the other possible etiologies is venous congestion. This may be due to volume overload and/or isolated global or right heart dysfunction.~Early treatment could prevent the onset of ARF or reduce its consequences, hence the importance of being able to predict its onset.~The VExUS (Venous Excess UltraSound grading system) score was created to qualitatively assess this venous congestion, based on ultrasound data from patients obtained post operatively in cardiac surgery. These data included: inferior vena cava diameter, Doppler flow of the suprahepatic veins, portal trunk and renal veins.~This score is predictive of the onset of acute renal failure in the first 3 days after surgery.~The VExUS score has not been validated in an external and prospective way in cardiac surgery.
Acute renal failure is a frequent complication associated with significant morbidity and mortality in postoperative cardiac surgery.~The VExUS (Venous Excess UltraSound grading system) score was created to qualitatively assess this venous congestion, based on ultrasound data from patients obtained post operatively in cardiac surgery. These data included: inferior vena cava diameter, Doppler flow of the suprahepatic veins, portal trunk and renal veins.~This score is predictive of the onset of acute renal failure in the first 3 days after surgery.~The VExUS score has not been validated in an external and prospective way in cardiac surgery.