Association between In-hospital Mortality and Low Cardiac Output Syndrome with Morning versus Afternoon Cardiac Surgery.

BACKGROUND: Recent work suggests that having aortic valve surgery in the morning increases risk for cardiac-related complications. This study therefore explored whether mortality and cardiac complications, specifically low cardiac output syndrome, differ for morning and afternoon cardiac surgeries. METHODS: The study included adults who had aortic and/or mitral valve repair/replacement and/or coronary artery bypass grafting from 2011 to 2018. The components of the in-hospital composite outcome were in-hospital mortality and low cardiac output syndrome, defined by requirement for at least two inotropic agents at 24 to 48 h postoperatively or need for mechanical circulatory support. Patients who had aortic cross-clamping between 8 and 11 am (morning surgery) versus between 2 and 5 pm (afternoon surgery) were compared on the incidence of the composite outcome. RESULTS: Among 9,734 qualifying operations, 0.4% (29 of 6,859) died after morning, and 0.7% (20 of 2,875) died after afternoon surgery. The composite of in-hospital mortality and low cardiac output syndrome occurred in 2.8% (195 of 6,859) of morning patients and 3.4% (97 of 2,875) of afternoon patients: morning versus afternoon confounder-adjusted odds ratio, 0.96 (95% CI, 0.75 to 1.24; P = 0.770). There was no evidence of interaction between morning versus afternoon and surgery type (P = 0.965), and operation time was statistically nonsignificant for surgery subgroups. CONCLUSIONS: Patients having aortic valve surgery, mitral valve surgery, and/or coronary artery bypass grafting with aortic cross-clamping in the morning and afternoon did not have significantly different outcomes. No evidence was found to suggest that morning or afternoon surgical timing alters postoperative risk.

Intercostal Blocks with Liposomal Bupivacaine in Thoracic Surgery: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

OBJECTIVE: Assess the efficacy of adding liposomal bupivacaine (LB) to bupivacaine-containing intercostal nerve blocks (ICNBs) to improve analgesia and decrease opioid consumption and hospital length of stay compared with bupivacaine-only ICNBs. DESIGN: This retrospective, observational investigation compared pain intensity scores and cumulative opioid consumption within the first 72 postoperative hours in patients who received ICNBs with bupivacaine plus LB (LB group) versus bupivacaine only (control group) after minimally invasive anatomic pulmonary resection. LB was tested for noninferiority on pain scores and opioid consumption. If LB was noninferior, superiority of LB was tested on both outcomes. SETTING: Academic tertiary care medical center. PARTICIPANTS: Adult patients undergoing minimally invasive anatomic pulmonary resection. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: For the secondary analysis, hospital length of stay was compared through the Cox regression model. Of 396 patients, 178 (45%) received LB and 218 (55%) did not. The mean (standard deviation) pain score was three (one) in the LB group and three (one) in the control group, with a difference of -0.10 (97.5% confidence interval [-0.39 to 0.18]; p = 0.41). The mean (standard deviation) cumulative opioid consumption (intravenous morphine equivalents) was 198 (208) mg in the LB group and 195 (162) mg in the control group. Treatment effect in opioid consumption was estimated at a ratio of geometric mean of 0.94 (97.5% confidence interval [0.74-1.20]; p = 0.56). Pain control and opioid consumption were noninferior with LB but not superior. Hospital discharge was not different between groups. CONCLUSIONS: LB with bupivacaine in ICNBs did not demonstrate superior postoperative analgesia or affect the rate of hospital discharge.