In conclusion and taking into account the limitations of a monocentric study, but supporting findings from previous work in patients undergoing CABG [8, 9], the present analysis shows that preoperative plasma GDF-15 is an independent predictor of postoperative AKI in patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery, and improves the predictive ability of the CC-ARF score as an established renal risk score and of logistic regression models based on the additive Euroscore, age, duration of CPB, and diabetes mellitus. This evidence concerns the gene GDF15 and acute kidney injury.