Description of Intervention
N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is well recognized for its antioxidant and free
radical scavenging properties [8] in addition to acting as a
vasodilator [9]. Hence, theoretically, NAC is able to counteract
several mechanisms of kidney injury during cardiac surgery, namely the
systemic inflammatory response, free radical injury and ischemia.
[10]
Many randomised controlled trials have been conducted on different
measures to prevent acute kidney injury. These measures range from
different pharmacological therapies, such as fenoldopam or
pentoxifylline, to surgical techniques such as off pump cardiopulmonary
bypass to remote ischemic preconditioning. However, among the randomised
controlled trials conducted on different preventive measures, the
administration of N-acetylcysteine was the most promising measure with
the greatest number of randomised controlled trials conducted on its
usage. Hence this review was conducted to assess the overall effect of
N-acetylcysteine based on past randomised controlled trials.