Background Acute kidney injury is a common complication following cardiac surgery. Albumin infusions have been proposed as an intervention that reduce the risk of this complication, but existing data have shown heterogenous results. The recent completion of two randomised controlled trial of Albumin infusions in cardiac surgical patients provides the opportunity to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to improve the precision of the estimated treatment effect of Albumin infusions in cardiac surgery.

Methods We will conduct a systematic review of randomised controlled trials that have evaluated the use of peri-operative Albumin infusions compared to comparator fluids in patient undergoing on-pump cardiac surgery. We will conduct a search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and Cochrane Central from inception to 22nd August. The review will be conducted and reported in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 statement. We will use a bayesian framework to estimate the treatment effect of albumin to prevent acute kidney injury defined according to the KDIGO criteria.

Results This systematic review has been prospectively registered on PROSPERO (CRD42024580170) and the formal search was conducted on 23rd August 2024. Title and abstract screening has commenced with data extraction to commence following the submission of the protocol.

Conclusion This systematic review will provide an updated systematic review and meta-analysis to inform clinicians about the role Albumin infusion in cardiac surgery.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

This study did not receive any funding

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Registration In accordance with guidelines, our systematic review protocol was registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) on 22nd August 2024, registration number CRD42024580170.

All data produced in the present work are contained in the manuscript