ABSTRACT
The purpose of the study was to reveal the predictors of more than 24-hour intensive care unit stay for patients activated early (up to 5 hours) after surgery under extracorporeal circulation and to explore the possibilities of predicting the prolongation of postoperative intensive care in the clinical situation under examination. The protocols of anesthetic maintenance, early activation, and postoperative intensive care were analyzed in 83 patients (50 males and 33 females) aged 31 to 82 years, who had been operated on under extracorporeal circulation for various cardiosurgical diseases. The multiple regression analysis showed that the significant predictors of more prolonged intensive care after early activation were the level of arterial lactatemia (p = 0.0021), the dosages of adrenaline and/or noradrenaline (p = 0.0048), age (p = 0.0051), and female sex (p = 0.0142). It was shown that the multiple regression analysis could approximately predict the duration of intensive care after early activation. The predicted and actual durations of intensive care in patients with an intensive care unit stay length of more than 24 hours coincided in 52% of cases. In patients with an intensive care unit stay length of less than 24 hours, the estimated and actual durations of intensive care were in agreement in 92% of cases. It is concluded that it is expedient to take into account the results of the performed analysis in choosing the optimum postoperative management policy in cardiosurgical patients who are to undergo early activation.
