Objectives We sought to characterize factors and outcomes associated with postoperative acute kidney injury in infants undergoing cardiac surgery. Methods We retrospectively studied 430 infants (<90 ...days) who underwent heart surgery for congenital defects. With a pediatric modified version of the Acute Kidney Injury Network classification, we performed statistical analyses to detect factors and outcomes associated with postoperative acute kidney injury. Results Postoperative acute kidney injury occurred in 225 patients (52%): 135 patients (31%) reached maximum acute kidney injury stage I, 59 (14%) reached stage II, and 31 (7%) reached stage III. On multivariable analysis, single-ventricle status (odds ratio, 1.6; 95% confidence interval, 1.08–2.37; P = .02), cardiopulmonary bypass (odds ratio, 1.2; 95% confidence interval 1.01–1.47; P = .04), and higher reference serum creatinine (odds ratio, 5.1; 95% confidence interval, 1.94–13.2; P = .0009) were associated with postoperative acute kidney injury. Thirty-two (7%) patients died in the hospital. Multivariable logistic regression showed that more severe acute kidney injury was associated with in-hospital mortality (maximum acute kidney injury stage II odds ratio, 5.1; 95% confidence interval, 1.7–15.2; P = .004; maximum acute kidney injury stage III odds ratio, 9.46; 95% confidence interval, 2.91–30.7; P = .0002) and longer mechanical ventilation and inotropic support. All acute kidney injury stages were associated with longer intensive care durations. Stage III acute kidney injury was associated with systemic ventricular dysfunction at hospital discharge. Conclusions Perioperative acute kidney injury is common in infant heart surgery and portends a poor clinical outcome.
Background
We performed a single‐center retrospective analysis to determine whether preoperative serum albumin levels were associated with postoperative adverse events and short‐ and long‐term ...survival in patients who underwent continuous‐flow left ventricular assist device (CF‐LVAD) implantation.
Methods
From November 2003 through March 2016, 526 patients underwent CF‐LVAD implantation. Patients whose preoperative serum albumin level was normal (≥3.5 g/dL) were compared to patients with preoperative hypoalbuminemia (<3.5 g/dL), which was further categorized as moderate (2.5‐3.5 g/dL) or severe (<2.5 g/dL). These groups were compared regarding preoperative demographics, incidence of postoperative complications, and long‐term survival.
Results
Patients with hypoalbuminemia had higher serum levels of liver enzymes (P < 0.05) and total bilirubin (P < 0.001) and significantly lower platelet counts (P = 0.02) and prealbumin levels (P < 0.001) than patients with normal preoperative albumin levels. Survival in patients with moderate and severe preoperative hypoalbuminemia was significantly decreased compared with patients with normal preoperative serum albumin levels (P < 0.001). Preoperative hypoalbuminemia was also associated with higher incidences of postoperative infection, gastrointestinal bleeding, neurological dysfunction, and acute kidney injury (P ≤ 0.01 for all) but did not affect the success of bridge to transplantation or survival after transplantation.
Conclusions
Our data demonstrated that there is a significant association of preoperative low serum albumin levels with postoperative adverse outcomes and lower survival rates. This highlights the importance of a patient's preoperative nutritional status on postoperative outcomes after CF‐LVAD implantation.
Background Cerebrospinal fluid drainage, a well-established means of preventing paraplegia after thoracic aortic aneurysm surgery, can result in serious, sometimes lethal complications. In a large ...group of patients who underwent surgical thoracic aortic aneurysm repair with cerebrospinal fluid drainage, we examined the incidences of and potential risk factors for these outcomes. Methods The records were reviewed of 504 patients who underwent surgical thoracic aortic aneurysm repair with cerebrospinal fluid drainage at the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital between February 2005 and December 2009. All historical data, inpatient records, and billing data were searched for evidence of complications. Results Of the 504 patients, 14 (2.8%) had intracranial hemorrhage, of whom 10 (72%) had subdural hematoma. Postdural puncture headache developed in 49 patients (9.7%), of whom 17 (34.6%) required epidural blood patch placement for resolution. Multivariable analysis identified having a connective tissue disorder (odds ratio, 3.08; 95% confidence interval, 1.33-7.13) as an independent predictor of postdural puncture headache, but not age less than 40 years (odds ratio, 0.97; 95% confidence interval, 0.94-0.99). Conclusions Cerebrospinal fluid drainage, as performed by our method, seems to be associated with a modest rate of intracranial bleeding in patients who undergo surgical thoracic aortic aneurysm repair. In contrast, postdural puncture headache is not uncommon, particularly in patients with connective tissue disease. Clinicians caring for these patients should consider the likelihood of postdural puncture headache, and any such patient with postoperative headache should be assessed for epidural blood patch placement.
Heart failure (HF) patients have high rates of hospitalization and rehospitalization.
A protocol-driven clinic staffed by an allied health care team was designed for patients discharged from the ...hospital with a diagnosis of congestive HF. The clinic provided follow-up visits 1 week and 4 to 6 weeks after hospital discharge. One-hundred and fourteen patients were observed at least 1 time, and 80% of these patients completed the 2-visit protocol. Clinical evaluations were provided by a nurse practitioner specializing in HF and a clinical pharmacist; these evaluations included physical examination, laboratory evaluation, medical education and reconciliation, medication adjustment and titration, and care coordination. Referrals to home health and appropriate services were provided. At visit 1, 25% of patients were hypervolemic and 13% were hypovolemic. At visit 2, 20% were hypervolemic and 13% were hypovolemic. Medicine reconciliation errors were common, with an average of 2.1 and 0.8 errors per person recorded for visits 1 and 2, respectively. Clinic participants showed a 44.3% reduction in 30-day readmission rates, as compared to the hospital's average 30-day readmission rates.
Protocol-driven postdischarge transition care delivered by allied health staff addressed multiple transition issues and was associated with a dramatic reduction in readmission rates.
Objective Selective antegrade cerebral perfusion (ACP) during hypothermic circulatory arrest (HCA) provides cerebral protection during aortic arch surgery. However, the ideal temperature for HCA ...during ACP remains unknown. Clinical outcomes were compared in patients who underwent moderate (nasopharyngeal temperature, ≥20°C) versus deep (nasopharyngeal temperature, <20°C) HCA with ACP during aortic arch repair. Methods By using a prospectively maintained clinical database, we analyzed data from 221 consecutive patients who underwent aortic arch replacement with HCA and ACP between December 2006 and May 2009. Seventy-eight patients underwent deep hypothermia (mean lowest temperature, 16.8°C ± 1.7°C) and 143 patients underwent moderate hypothermia (mean, 22.9°C ± 1.4°C) before systemic circulatory arrest was initiated. Multivariate stepwise logistic and linear regressions were performed to determine whether depth of hypothermia independently predicted postoperative outcomes and blood-product use. Results Compared with moderate hypothermia, deep hypothermia was associated independently with a greater risk of in-hospital death (7.7% vs 0.7%; odds ratio OR, 9.3; 95% confidence interval CI, 1.1-81.6; P = .005) and 30-day all-cause mortality (9.0% vs 2.1%; OR, 4.7; 95% CI, 1.2-18.6; P = .02), and with longer cardiopulmonary bypass time (154 ± 62 vs 140 ± 46 min; P = .008). Deep hypothermia also was associated with a higher incidence of stroke, although this association was not statistically significant (7.6% vs 2.8%; P = .073; OR, 4.3; 95% CI, 0.9-12.5). No difference was seen in acute kidney injury, blood product transfusion, or need for surgical re-exploration. Conclusions Moderate hypothermia with ACP is associated with lower in-hospital and 30-day mortality, shorter cardiopulmonary bypass time, and fewer neurologic sequelae than deep hypothermia in patients who undergo aortic arch surgery with ACP.
We sought to determine if the occurrence of postoperative atrial fibrillation (AF) affects early or late mortality following coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG).
Atrial fibrillation is the most ...common arrhythmia seen following CABG.
The Texas Heart Institute Cardiovascular Research Database was used to identify all patients that developed AF after isolated initial CABG from January 1993 to December 1999 (n = 994). This population was compared with patients who underwent CABG during the same period but did not develop AF (n = 5,481). In-hospital end points were adjusted using logistic regression models to account for baseline differences. Long-term survival was evaluated using a retrospective cohort design, where Cox proportional hazards methods were used to adjust for baseline differences, and with case-matched populations (n = 390, 195 per arm).
Atrial fibrillation was diagnosed in 16% of the population. Postoperative AF was associated with greater in-hospital mortality (odds ratio OR 1.7, p = 0.0001), more strokes (OR 2.02, p = 0.001), prolonged hospital stays (14 vs. 10 days, p < 0.0001), and a reduced incidence of myocardial infarction (OR 0.62, p = 0.01). At four to five years, survival was worse in patients who developed postoperative AF (74% vs. 87%, p < 0.0001 in the retrospective cohort; 80% vs. 93%, p = 0.003 in the case-matched population). On multivariate analysis, postoperative AF was an independent predictor of long-term mortality (adjusted OR 1.5, p < 0.001 in the retrospective cohort; OR 3.4, p = 0.0018 in the case-matched population).
The occurrence of AF following CABG identifies a subset of patients who have a reduced survival probability following CABG. The impact of various strategies, such as antiarrhythmics and warfarin, aimed at reducing AF and its complications deserves further study.
Background Preoperative statin administration is associated with reduced mortality risk after a coronary artery bypass graft operation. However, the optimal dose and timing are unknown. Methods We ...retrospectively reviewed data from 3,025 primary isolated coronary artery bypass graft surgery patients at our institution. Patients were divided into three groups, according to timing of their preoperative statin: 24 hours or less (n = 1,788), 24 to 72 hours (n = 452), or more than 72 hours before operation or no dose (n = 781). We then grouped patients by preoperative dose: no statin (n = 739), 20 mg or less (n = 920), or more than 20 mg (n = 1,284) atorvastatin or equivalent. Primary outcome was 30-day all-cause postoperative mortality. Results Thirty-day all-cause mortality was significantly lower for patients taking a statin 24 hours or less preoperatively (1.7%) compared with 24 to 72 hours (2.9%), more than 72 hours, or no dose (3.8%). Multivariate analysis of a propensity-matched cohort showed taking statins 24 hours or less preoperatively was associated with reduced 30-day all-cause mortality (odds ratio 0.52, 95% confidence interval: 0.28 to 0.98, p = 0.04) versus more than 24 hours or no dose. For preoperative statin dose, 30-day all-cause mortality was significantly lower when taking 20 mg or less(1.8%) or more than 20 mg atorvastatin or equivalent (2.1%) than when taking none (3.8%). In multivariate analysis of the propensity-matched cohort, more than 20 mg preoperative dose was associated with a 68% reduction of 30-day all-cause mortality (odds ratio 0.32, 95% confidence interval: 0.13 to 0.82, p = 0.02) compared with no preoperative statin. However, a 20 mg or less preoperative dose showed no mortality reduction. Conclusions Both statin use 24 hours or less preoperatively and preoperative statin dose of more than 20 mg were independently associated with decreased 30-day all-cause mortality after coronary artery bypass graft surgery.
Although coronary revascularization is common in both Japan and the United States (US), no direct comparison has been performed to demonstrate differences in the clinical characteristics and ...long-term outcomes of patients in these 2 countries. We analyzed the preprocedural, in-hospital, and long-term data from the Coronary Revascularization Demonstrating Outcome registry (Kyoto, Japan) and the Texas Heart Institute Research Database (Houston, Texas) of 16,100 patients who had undergone elective, initial percutaneous coronary intervention or coronary artery bypass grafting. The Japanese procedures were performed from 2000 to 2002 (n = 8,871, follow-up period 3.5 years, interquartile range 2.6 to 4.3) and the US procedures from 1999 to 2003 (n = 7,229, follow-up period 5.2 years, interquartile range 3.8 to 6.5). The Japanese patients tended to be older (mean age 67.2 vs 62.7 years; p <0.001), to smoke (52.9% vs 46.0%; p <0.001), and to have diabetes (39.2% vs 31.0%; p <0.001) and stroke (16.4% vs 5.0%; p <0.001). The US patients were more obese (body mass index 23.7 vs 29.3 kg/m2 ; p <0.001), with greater rates of systemic atherosclerotic disease. Both groups had a similar in-hospital mortality rate (Japanese patients 0.9% vs US patients 1.1%; p = 0.19) and crude long-term mortality rate (Japanese patients 27.7/1,000 person-years, US patients 28.2/1,000 person-years; p = 0.35). After adjustment for known predictors, the US group had greater long-term mortality than the Japanese group (hazard ratio 1.71, 95% confidence interval 1.50 to 1.95; p <0.001). This finding was consistent among all high-risk subgroups. In conclusion, the 2 registries showed similar crude outcomes but important differences in patient risk factors such as obesity. In the adjusted analysis, the Japanese patients had better outcomes than did the US patients. Additional study is needed to assess the effect of ethnic and risk factor variations on coronary artery disease.
Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), but no study has yet compared the short- and long-term outcomes of ...coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stents for multivessel CAD among non-hemodialysis-dependent (HD) patients with CKD. In our institution's registry, we identified 812 patients with CKD (glomerular filtration rate <60 ml/min) who had undergone either CABG or PCI for multivessel CAD from May 2003 to December 2006. Of these patients, 725 had non-HD CKD, and 87 were hemodialysis-dependent. The rates of 30-day and long-term mortality, 30-day major adverse cardiovascular events, and hemodialysis dependence after revascularization were compared between these 2 groups by computing the hazard ratios from a Cox proportional hazards model and adjusting them for the baseline covariates and propensity score. After either CABG or PCI, 2.4% of the patients with non-HD CKD were hemodialysis dependent. Compared to PCI, CABG was associated with postoperative hemodialysis dependence (odds ratio 3.2, 95% confidence interval 1.1 to 9.3; p <0.001). However, among patients with non-HD CKD and 3-vessel CAD, those who underwent CABG tended to have a lower long-term mortality rate than those who underwent PCI (hazard ratio 0.61, 95% confidence interval 0.36 to 1.03; p = 0.06). In the patients with non-HD CKD treated for 2-vessel CAD, those who underwent CABG or PCI had a similar long-term mortality risk (hazard ratio 1.12, 95% confidence interval 0.52 to 2.34; p = 0.7). In conclusion, in patients with non-HD CKD and multivessel CAD, CABG led to better survival than PCI with drug-eluting stents, but CABG patients had a greater short-term risk of requiring permanent hemodialysis.
Background Changes in postoperative serum creatinine levels have been used to define acute renal injury in patients undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. It remains unclear, ...however, whether subclinical increases in serum creatinine that do not meet current Acute Kidney Injury Network or RIFLE (risk, injury, failure, loss, and end-stage kidney disease) criteria for acute renal injury are predictive of mortality after cardiac surgery. Methods Multivariate logistic regression was performed in a retrospective cohort of 3914 consecutive patients undergoing primary, isolated coronary artery bypass grafting with cardiopulmonary bypass to determine whether postoperative serum creatinine change independently predicts 30-day all-cause mortality in patients with normal renal function and with varying levels of preoperative renal insufficiency. To control further for selection bias, multivariate logistic regression was performed on a propensity-matched cohort (n = 2042) to determine whether subclinical increases in serum creatinine predict mortality. Results Negative change in serum creatinine was associated with reduced 30-day all-cause mortality. Even subclinical increases in serum creatinine were associated with increased mortality relative to patients with negative changes in serum creatinine (odds ratio, 3.93; 95% confidence interval, 1.68–9.22; P < .01). After propensity matching, subclinical increases in serum creatinine were still associated with increased mortality (odds ratio, 4.13; 95% confidence interval, 1.37–12.45; P = .01). Conclusions Subclinical increases in serum creatinine that do not meet acute renal injury criteria are independently associated with 30-day all-cause mortality in patients with normal renal function or preoperative renal insufficiency undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting.
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