ReviewThe ultrasound journal2025
Venous excess ultrasound score association with acute kidney injury in critically ill patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.
Review in The ultrasound journal, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07291778 (The Impact of VeXUS-guided Fluid Management in ICU Populations on Renal Function), which is not on this map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
The Impact of VeXUS-guided Fluid Management in ICU Populations on Renal Function
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Hemodynamic monitoring strategies in cardiac surgery: an update systematic review.Journal of clinical monitoring and computing · 2026Pooled it
- Venous dimension of shock: Integrating arterial inflow and venous back-pressure in hemodynamic assessment.World journal of critical care medicine · 2026Review
- Interpreting VExUS and renal outcomes: the importance of construct validation in surgical ICU cohorts.Intensive care medicine experimental · 2026Article
- The expanding role of ultrasound in acute kidney injury: from B-mode to microcirculation.Clinical kidney journal · 2026Review
- Rethinking Congestion in Heart Failure from Volume Overload to Venous Pressure and Organ Disfunction with VExUS.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Review
- VExUS versus CVP for assessing venous congestion: oasis or mirage?Critical care (London, England) · 2026Article
- Review
- Association between VExUS score and worsening renal function during diuretic therapy in the ICU.Intensive care medicine experimental · 2026Article
- Perioperative fluid accumulation and clinical outcomes after cardiac surgery: a systematic review and Bayesian meta-analysis.Journal of anesthesia, analgesia and critical care · 2026Review
- Fluid responsiveness and changes in venous congestion and lung water during volume expansion in critically ill patients: a multicentre observational study.Critical care (London, England) · 2026Observational
- Femoral vein Doppler ultrasound for assessing venous congestion and right heart function: a scoping review.Intensive care medicine experimental · 2026Review
- Integrated ultrasound haemodynamic profiling (VTI-VExUS) for risk stratification in acute heart failure.European heart journal. Imaging methods and practice · 2026Article
- Renal congestion syndrome in critically ill patients: a neglected mechanism of acute kidney injury - A narrative review.Annals of intensive care · 2026Review
- Venous excess and lung ultrasound during continuous renal replacement therapy in critically ill patients (VExLUS-RRT): a prospective observational study.Annals of intensive care · 2026Article
- Association between venous excess ultrasound score and major adverse kidney events at 30 days in critically ill elderly patients: a multicenter prospective cohort study.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Venous congestion from a vascular waterfall perspective: reframing congestion as a dynamic Starling resistor phenomenon.Intensive care medicine experimental · 2025Review
- Assessing Venous Congestion in Acute and Chronic Heart Failure: A Review of Splanchnic, Cardiac and Pulmonary Ultrasound: Part 1: Conventional B-Mode, Colordoppler, and Vexus Protocol.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- VExUS score: optimizing its use in perioperative and critical care management.Critical care (London, England) · 2025Review
- How we use critical care ultrasonography in the management of cardiogenic shock: a strategic game of chess in intensive care.Intensive care medicine · 2025Article
- Contemporary clinical applications of venous excess ultrasound: A scoping review protocol.PloS one · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSystemic venous congestion assessed by the venous excess ultrasound score (VExUS), has been associated with acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. However, there is a lack of evidence of this association in the general critically ill patients. STUDY DESIGN AND
methodsPubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases were searched for observational prospective studies that included critically ill patients and analyzed VExUS score on the first day of admission to the ICU. The main outcome was occurrence of AKI. Secondary outcome was all-cause mortality. Statistical analysis was performed using Review Manager 5.4.1. Odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence interval were pooled using a random-effects model. The Quality in Prognosis Studies (QUIPS) tool was used to assess risk of bias. Publication bias was assessed via funnel plot and heterogeneity was examined with I
resultsOur analysis included 1036 patients from nine studies, of whom 17.4% presented venous congestion according to VExUS definition. In critically ill patients presenting with venous congestion (VExUS score ≥ 2), the incidence of AKI was significantly higher as compared with those without congestion (OR 2.63, 95% CI 1.06-6.54; p = 0.04; I
conclusionsThese findings suggest that VExUS score may correlate with an elevation in the incidence AKI in critically ill patients, with a more pronounced effect observed within the subgroup of patients undergoing cardiac surgery. There was no statistically significant association between VExUS score and all-cause mortality. CLINICAL
trial registrationPROSPERO under protocol number CRD535513.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.