Levosimendan administration is not associated with increased risk of bleeding and blood transfusion requirement in patients undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting: a retrospective study from single center.

BACKGROUND: Levosimendan (LEVO) is a positive inotropic drug which could increase myocardial contractility and reduce the mortality rate in cardiac surgical patients. However, Whether LEVO is associated with postoperative bleeding and blood transfusion in cardiac surgical patients is controversial. Therefore, the current study was designed to investigate the impact of LEVO administration on bleeding and blood transfusion requirement in off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCAB) patients. METHODS: In a retrospective analysis, a total of 292 patients, aged 40-87 years, undergoing elective OPCAB between January 2019 and July 2019, were divided into LEVO group (n = 151) and Control group (n = 141). Patients in LEVO group continuously received LEVO at a rate of 0.1-0.2 µg kg-1 min-1 after anesthesia induction until 24 hours after OPCAB or patients in Control group received no LEVO. The primary outcome was postoperative chest drainage volume. The secondary outcomes were reoperation for postoperative bleeding, transfusion requirement of red blood cells (RBCs), fresh frozen plasma (FFP) and platelet concentrate (PC), etc. Comparisons of two groups were performed with the Student's t-test or Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test. RESULTS: There was no significant difference with respect to chest drainage volume ((956.29 ± 555.45) ml vs (1003.19 ± 572.25) ml, p = 0.478) and the incidence of reoperation for postoperative bleeding (1.32% vs 1.42%, p = 0.945) between LEVO group and Control group. The transfusion incidence and volume of allogeneic RBCs, FFP, and PC were comparable between two groups. CONCLUSIONS: LEVO administration was neither associated with more postoperative blood loss nor increased allogeneic blood transfusion requirement in OPCAB patients.

Anesthetic management of patients undergoing mediastinal mass operation.

Objectives: To summarize the anesthetic management of patients undergoing mediastinal mass operation. Methods: Electronic databases were searched to identify all case reports of patients undergoing mediastinal mass operation. Information such as clinical characteristics, perioperative management and patients' outcomes were abstracted and analyzed. Results: Seventy-seven case reports with 85 patients aging from 34 days to 81 years were included. Mediastinal masses were located in anterior (n = 48), superior (n = 15), middle (n = 9) and posterior (n = 9) mediastinum, respectively. Clinical manifestations included dyspnea (n = 45), cough (n = 29), chest or radiating pain (n = 12), swelling (n = 8), fever (n = 7) and chest distress (n = 4). Most patients (n = 75) had signs of compression or invasion of vital structures. General anesthesia (n = 76) was the most commonly used method of anesthesia. Muscle relaxants were administered in 35 patients during anesthesia induction and spontaneous respiration was maintained in 37 patients. Mediastinal mass syndrome (MMS) occurred in 39 cases. Extracorporeal circulation was utilized in 20 patients intraoperatively. Three patients experienced cardiac arrest after ventilation failure and two patients died intraoperatively and one postoperatively. Conclusions: Peri-operative management of patients undergoing mediastinal mass operation could be challenging. Pre-operative multi-disciplinary discussion, well-planned anesthetic management and pre-determined protocols for emergency situations are all vital to patient safety.

The effect of tranexamic acid on the values of activated clotting time in patients undergoing cardiac surgery: A PRISMA-compliant systematic review and meta-analysis.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Activated clotting time (ACT) is a non-specific test to evaluate the adequacy of systemic heparinization whose value could be influenced by many factors. Tranexamic acid (TXA) is a widely used antifibrinolytic agent worldwide and whether TXA influences ACT value in cardiac surgical patients remains unknown. Current study was performed to address this question. DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis. PUBMED, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, OVID and Chinese BioMedical Literature & Retrieval System were searched using search terms "tranexamic acid", "activated clotting time", "cardiac surgery", "randomized controlled trial" till May 7th, 2020, to identify all relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs). SETTING: Operating room. PATIENTS: Cardiac surgical patients. INTERVENTIONS: TXA or placebo. MEASUREMENTS: Primary outcomes of interest included peri-operative ACT values. Secondary outcomes of interest include heparin dosage, protamine dosage, postoperative bleeding and blood transfusion. MAIN RESULTS: Search yielded 13 studies including 1168 patients, and 619 patients were allocated into Group TXA and 549 into Group Control (placebo). Meta-analysis suggested that, ACT values after heparinization [(WMD = -1.45; 95%CI: -12.52 to 15.43; P = 0.84)] and after protamine [(WMD = -1.18; 95%CI: -2.81 to 0.46; P = 0.16)] were comparable between Group TXA and Group Control, and that TXA did not influence heparin dose in adult patients [(WMD = 0.38; 95%CI: 0.30 to 0.46; P<0.00001) with no heterogeneity (I2 = 4%, P = 0.35)] and protamine dose for heparin reversal [(WMD = 5.23; 95%CI: -0.33 to 10.80; P = 0.07) with no heterogeneity (I2 = 0, P = 0.58)]. Meta-analysis also demonstrated that, TXA administration significantly reduced post-operative bleeding volume [(WMD = -126.33; 95%CI: -177.46 to -75.19; P < 0.0001), post-operative red blood cell (RBC) transfusion volume [(WMD = -71.86; 95% CI: -88.22 to -55.50; P < 0.00001), fresh frozen plasma (FFP) transfusion volume [(WMD = -13.83; 95% CI: -23.67 to -4.00; P = 0.006) and platelet concentrate (PC) transfusion volume [(WMD = -0.20; 95% CI: -0.29 to -0.10; P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis suggested that, TXA administration did not influence ACT value, heparin and protamine doses, but significantly reduced post-operative blood loss and transfusion requirement in cardiac surgical patients.