Impact of perioperative course during cardiac surgery on outcomes in patients 80 years and older.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the associations among preoperative characteristics, intraoperative and postoperative factors, and mortality and morbidity after open-heart surgery in patients age ≥80 years. METHODS: This retrospective multicenter register study was based on prospectively collected data of all patients age ≥80 years undergoing open-heart surgery in western Denmark between 1999 and 2016. Logistic regression was used to estimate the associations among preoperative characteristics, intraoperative and postoperative factors, and morbidity and mortality. Bonferroni correction was used for multiple comparisons. RESULTS: The study population included 2342 patients age ≥80 years undergoing open-heart surgery. We observed an association between severely impaired preoperative renal function and death within 1-year postsurgery (odds ratio [OR], 4.6; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.7-7.2). Furthermore, renal clearance <40 mL/min and prolonged cardiopulmonary bypass time of >180 minutes were associated with a >50% probability of death within 1 year. The adjusted OR for death within 1 year was increased significantly with a postoperative length of stay in intensive care of ≥3 days (OR, 5.9; 95% CI, 4.1-8.6) and a duration of postoperative mechanical ventilation ≥2 days (OR, 7.5; 95% CI, 4.1-13.9). Various preoperative and intraoperative characteristics were associated with in-hospital dialysis, in particular cardiopulmonary bypass time >180 minutes (OR, 11.6; 95% CI, 4.7-28.5). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings emphasize the importance of careful referral regarding the procedural burden for very elderly patients and may provide support for informed patient discussions about prognosis and recovery.

Blood cardioplegia benefits only patients with a long cross-clamp time.

INTRODUCTION: A clear advantage of blood versus crystalloid cardioplegia has not yet been observed in smaller population studies. The purpose of this article was to further investigate the clinical outcomes of blood versus crystalloid cardioplegia in a large propensity-matched cohort of patients who underwent cardiac surgery. METHODS: The study was a single-centre study. Data was withdrawn from the Western Denmark Heart Registry, which comprises a perfusion section for each procedure. A total of 4,852 patients were propensity matched into crystalloid (CC) vs blood cardioplegia (BC) groups. The primary end points were creatinine kinase-MB (CKMB) elevation, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), stroke, dialysis, coronary angiography (CAG) and mortality (30 days and 6 months). RESULTS: We found lower odds ratio in 30-day mortality in the BC group (OR 0.21; CI 0.06-0.68), but no difference in overall 6-month mortality. There was no difference in CKMB elevation, AMI, dialysis or stroke. Several end points were further analysed for different cross-clamp times. In the CC group, ventilation time above 600 minutes was seen more often in almost all cross-clamp time intervals (23.5 % vs 12.2 %; p<0.0001; χ2-test) and 6-month mortality was significantly higher when the cross-clamp time exceeded 210 minutes (64.3 vs 23.8; p=0.018; χ2-test). CONCLUSIONS: We did not find clear evidence of superiority of either type in the uncomplicated patient. When prolonged cross-clamp time or postoperative ventilation is expected, this study indicates that blood cardioplegia might be preferable.

The association between a three-day ticagrelor discontinuation and perioperative bleeding complications.

OBJECTIVES: Dual antiplatelet therapy at the time of cardiac surgery is associated with excessive perioperative bleeding. International guidelines, therefore, recommended discontinuing oral adenosine diphosphate receptor antagonists prior to non-emergency surgery. In this study, we analysed whether a 3-day ticagrelor discontinuation was sufficient to avoid major bleeding complications. METHODS: This study is a retrospective cohort analysis of 3377 patients undergoing coronary artery bypass or single-valve surgery from January 2013 to September 2017. Patients exposed to ticagrelor prior to surgery were compared with control patients exposed to aspirin only. Outcome measures included transfusion requirements, bleeding volumes, the need for re-exploration and the composite outcome major bleeding complication. Data were retrieved from the the Western Denmark Heart Registry. RESULTS: During the study period, 101 patients were preoperatively exposed to ticagrelor, whereas 3276 patients were exposed to aspirin only. Propensity-score matching resulted in 90 pairs of patients. Overall, ticagrelor exposure was associated with a greater risk of major bleeding complications compared with control patients [31 vs 12%, relative risk 2.6, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.4-4.8]. While ticagrelor exposure within 0-72 h before surgery (n = 42) was associated with a substantially increased risk of major bleeding complications (48 vs 10%, relative risk 5.0, 95% CI 1.9-13.4), ticagrelor exposure 72-120 h before surgery (n = 48) showed no statistically significant association (17 vs 15%, relative risk 1.1, 95% CI 0.4-2.9). CONCLUSIONS: In our historical cohort, ticagrelor exposure 0-72 h prior to cardiac surgery was associated with an increased risk of major bleeding complications. On the other hand, ticagrelor exposure 72-120 h prior to surgery was not associated with a clinically relevant increase in major bleeding complications.