ABSTRACT
This study aims to associate the incidence of postoperative vasoplegia and short-term survival to the implantation of various left ventricular assist devices differing in hemocompatibility and flow profiles. The overall incidence of vasoplegia was 25.3% (73/289 patients) and 30.3% (37/122), 25.0% (18/72), and 18.9% (18/95) in the axial flow (AXF), centrifugal flow (CF), and centrifugal flow with artificial pulse (CFAP) group, respectively. Vasoplegia was associated with longer intensive care (ICU) and hospital length of stay (LOS) and mortality. ICU and in-hospital LOS and 1-year mortality were the lowest in the CFAP group. Post hoc analysis resulted in a p-value of 0.43 between AXF and CF; 0.35 between CF and CFAP; and 0.06 between AXF and CFAP. Although there is a trend in diminished incidence of vasoplegia, pooled logistic regression using flow profile and variables that remained after feature selection showed that flow profile was not an independent predictor for postoperative vasoplegia.
Subject(s)
Heart-Assist Devices , Length of Stay , Prosthesis Design , Vasoplegia , Ventricular Function, Left , Humans , Vasoplegia/physiopathology , Vasoplegia/etiology , Vasoplegia/diagnosis , Male , Female , Middle Aged , Time Factors , Treatment Outcome , Incidence , Risk Factors , Adult , Aged , Heart Failure/physiopathology , Heart Failure/mortality , Heart Failure/diagnosis , Heart Failure/therapy , Prosthesis Implantation/instrumentation , Prosthesis Implantation/adverse effects , Prosthesis Implantation/mortality , Retrospective Studies , Hospital Mortality , Risk AssessmentABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Vasoplegia after routine cardiac surgery is associated with severe postoperative complications and increased mortality. It is also prevalent in patients undergoing implantation of pulsatile flow left ventricular assist devices (LVAD). However, less is known regarding vasoplegia after implantation of newer generations of continuous flow LVADs (cfLVAD). We aim to report the incidence, impact on outcome and predictors of vasoplegia in these patients. METHODS: Adult patients scheduled for primary cfLVAD implantation were enrolled into a derivation cohort (n = 118, 2006-2013) and a temporal validation cohort (n = 73, 2014-2016). Vasoplegia was defined taking into consideration low mean arterial pressure and/or low systemic vascular resistance, preserved cardiac index and high vasopressor support. Vasoplegia was considered after bypass and the first 48 h of ICU stay lasting at least three consecutive hours. This concept of vasoplegia was compared to older definitions reported in the literature in terms of the incidence of postoperative vasoplegia and its association with adverse outcomes. Logistic regression was used to identify independent predictors. Their ability to discriminate patients with vasoplegia was quantified by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). RESULTS: The incidence of vasoplegia was 33.1% using the unified definition of vasoplegia. Vasoplegia was associated with increased ICU length-of-stay (10.5 [6.9-20.8] vs 6.1 [4.6-10.4] p = 0.002), increased ICU-mortality (OR 5.8, 95% CI 1.9-18.2) and one-year-mortality (OR 3.9, 95% CI 1.5-10.2), and a higher incidence of renal failure (OR 4.3, 95% CI 1.8-10.4). Multivariable analysis identified previous cardiothoracic surgery, preoperative dopamine administration, preoperative bilirubin levels and preoperative creatinine clearance as independent preoperative predictors of vasoplegia. The resultant prediction model exhibited a good discriminative ability (AUC 0.80, 95% CI 0.71-0.89, p < 0.01). Temporal validation resulted in an AUC of 0.74 (95% CI 0.61-0.87, p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: In the era of the new generation of cfLVADs, vasoplegia remains a prevalent (33%) and critical condition with worse short-term outcomes and survival. We identified previous cardiothoracic surgery, preoperative treatment with dopamine, preoperative bilirubin levels and preoperative creatinine clearance as independent predictors.
