Contrast-Associated Acute Kidney Injury in Oncology Patients During Active Chemotherapy: A Saudi Arabian Retrospective Study

Background:Contrast-associated acute kidney injury (CA-AKI) is a recognized complication in oncology patients undergoing contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) during chemotherapy.Limited data exist on CA-AKI incidence in patients with preserved baseline renal function, particularly in Middle Eastern populations. Material/Methods:We conducted a retrospective analysis of 146 adult oncology patients with baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) greater than 50 mL/min/1.73m 2 who underwent CECT within 45 days of chemotherapy at a tertiary cancer center in Saudi Arabia (January 2017-December 2018).CA-AKI was defined as an absolute serum creatinine increase of 0.3 mg/dL or more, or as a relative increase of more than 50% within 48 to 72 hours of contrast administration.Given the small number of events (n = 2), descriptive statistics and exploratory univariate analyses were performed. Results:CA-AKI occurred in 2 of 146 patients (1.4%; 95% CI: 0.2%-5.0%).Mean age was 51.5 ± 16.2 years; 58% were women.Cancer types included solid tumors (81.5%) and hematological malignancies (17.8%).The chemotherapy-to-CECT interval was shorter in patients with CA-AKI (mean: 2 days) than in patients without CA-AKI (mean: 23.3 ± 12.8 days; P = 0.02).This association is exploratory and hypothesis-generating given the extremely limited number of events.Conclusions:CA-AKI incidence was relatively low (1.4%) in oncology patients with preserved baseline renal function undergoing CECT during active chemotherapy.The observed association between shorter chemotherapy-to-imaging intervals and CA-AKI requires prospective validation and should not be interpreted as a definitive causal relationship.These findings provide preliminary regional data from Saudi Arabia and underscore the need for larger, well-designed prospective studies to better characterize CA-AKI risk in this population.