Epiaortic ultrasonography (EAU) is a valid imaging method to detect atherosclerotic changes of the ascending aorta and to guide surgical strategies for the prevention of cerebral embolism in patients ...undergoing isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). However, its use is not widespread.
The impact of EAU on the outcome after isolated CABG was investigated in patients from the European Multicenter Study on Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (E-CABG) registry. A systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature was performed to substantiate the findings of this observational study.
EAU was performed intraoperatively in 673 of 7241 patients (9.3%) from the E-CABG registry. In the overall series, the rates of stroke without and with aortic manipulation were 0.3% and 1.3%, respectively (P = .003). In 660 propensity score-matched pairs, EAU was associated with significantly lower risk of stroke (0.6% vs 2.6%, P = .007). A literature search yielded 5 studies fulfilling the inclusion criteria. These studies, along with the present one, included 11,496 patients, of whom 3026 (25.7%) underwent intraoperative EAU. Their rate of postoperative stroke was significantly lower than in patients not investigated with EAU (pooled rate, 0.6% vs 1.9%; risk ratio, 0.40; 95% confidence interval, 0.24-0.66; I
= 0%). On the basis of these pooled rates, the number needed to treat to prevent 1 stroke is 76.9.
Avoiding aortic manipulation is associated with the lowest risk of stroke in patients undergoing CABG. When manipulation of the ascending aorta is planned, EAU is effective in guiding the surgical strategy to reduce the risk for embolic stroke in these patients.
We hypothesized that cannulation strategy in venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) could play a crucial role in the perioperative survival of patients affected by postcardiotomy ...shock.
Between January 2010 and March 2018, 781 adult patients receiving VA-ECMO for postcardiotomy shock at 19 cardiac surgical centers were retrieved from the Postcardiotomy Veno-arterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation study registry. A parallel systematic review and meta-analysis (PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane Library) through December 2018 was also accomplished.
Central and peripheral VA-ECMO cannulation were performed in 245 (31.4%) and 536 (68.6%) patients, respectively. Main indications for the institution VA-ECMO were failure to wean from cardiopulmonary bypass (38%) and heart failure following cardiopulmonary bypass weaning (48%). The doubly robust analysis after inverse probability treatment weighting by propensity score demonstrated that central VA-ECMO was associated with greater hospital mortality (odds ratio 1.54; 95% confidence interval, 1.09-2.18), reoperation for bleeding/tamponade (odds ratio, 1.96; 95% confidence interval, 1.37-2.81), and transfusion of more than 9 RBC units (odds ratio, 2.42; 95% confidence interval, 1.59-3.67). The systematic review provided a total of 2491 individuals with postcardiotomy shock treated with VA-ECMO. Pooled prevalence of in-hospital/30-day mortality in overall patient population was 66.6% (95% confidence interval, 64.7-68.4%), and pooled unadjusted risk ratio analysis confirmed that patients undergoing peripheral VA-ECMO had a lower in-hospital/30-day mortality than patients undergoing central cannulation (risk ratio, 0.92; 95% confidence interval, 0.87-0.98). Adjustments for important confounders did not alter our results.
In patients with postcardiotomy shock treated with VA-ECMO, central cannulation was associated with greater in-hospital mortality than peripheral cannulation.
The authors evaluated the outcome of adult patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)–related acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) requiring the use of extracorporeal membrane ...oxygenation (ECMO).
Multicenter retrospective, observational study.
Ten tertiary referral university and community hospitals.
Patients with confirmed severe COVID-19–related ARDS.
Venovenous or venoarterial ECMO.
One hundred thirty-two patients (mean age 51.1 ± 9.7 years, female 17.4%) were treated with ECMO for confirmed severe COVID-19–related ARDS. Before ECMO, the mean Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score was 10.1 ± 4.4, mean pH was 7.23 ± 0.09, and mean PaO2/fraction of inspired oxygen ratio was 77 ± 50 mmHg. Venovenous ECMO was adopted in 122 patients (92.4%) and venoarterial ECMO in ten patients (7.6%) (mean duration, 14.6 ± 11.0 days). Sixty-three (47.7%) patients died on ECMO and 70 (53.0%) during the index hospitalization. Six-month all-cause mortality was 53.0%. Advanced age (per year, hazard ratio HR 1.026, 95% CI 1.000-1-052) and low arterial pH (per unit, HR 0.006, 95% CI 0.000-0.083) before ECMO were the only baseline variables associated with increased risk of six-month mortality.
The present findings suggested that about half of adult patients with severe COVID-19–related ARDS can be managed successfully with ECMO with sustained results at six months. Decreased arterial pH before ECMO was associated significantly with early mortality. Therefore, the authors hypothesized that initiation of ECMO therapy before severe metabolic derangements subset may improve survival rates significantly in these patients. These results should be viewed in the light of a strict patient selection policy and may not be replicated in patients with advanced age or multiple comorbidities. Clinical Trial Registration: identifier, NCT04383678.
The aim of this study was to identify the risk factors associated with early mortality after postcardiotomy venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.
This is an analysis of the postcardiotomy ...extracorporeal membrane oxygenation registry, a retrospective multicenter cohort study including 781 patients aged more than 18 years who required venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for cardiopulmonary failure after cardiac surgery from 2010 to 2018 at 19 cardiac surgery centers.
After a mean venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation therapy of 6.9 ± 6.2 days, hospital and 1-year mortality were 64.4% and 67.2%, respectively. Hospital mortality after venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation therapy for more than 7 days was 60.5% (P = .105). Centers that had treated more than 50 patients with postcardiotomy venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation had a significantly lower hospital mortality than lower-volume centers (60.7% vs 70.7%, adjusted odds ratio, 0.58; 95% confidence interval, 0.41-0.82). The postcardiotomy extracorporeal membrane oxygenation score was derived by assigning a weighted integer to each independent pre–venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation predictors of hospital mortality as follows: female gender (1 point), advanced age (60-69 years, 2 points; ≥70 years, 4 points), prior cardiac surgery (1 point), arterial lactate 6.0 mmol/L or greater before venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (2 points), aortic arch surgery (4 points), and preoperative stroke/unconsciousness (5 points). The hospital mortality rates according to the postcardiotomy extracorporeal membrane oxygenation score was 0 point, 45.6%; 1 point, 40.5%; 2 points, 51.1%; 3 points, 57.8%; 4 points, 70.7%; 5 points, 68.3%; 6 points, 77.5%; and 7 points or more, 89.7% (P < .0001).
Age, female gender, prior cardiac surgery, preoperative acute neurologic events, aortic arch surgery, and increased arterial lactate were associated with increased risk of early mortality after postcardiotomy venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Center experience with postcardiotomy venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation may contribute to improved results.
This study was planned to pool existing data on outcome and to evaluate the efficacy of postcardiotomy venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) in adult patients.
Systematic review ...of the literature and meta-analysis.
Multi-institutional study.
Adult patients with acute heart failure immediately after cardiac surgery.
VA-ECMO after cardiac surgery. Studies evaluating only heart transplant patients were excluded from this analysis.
A literature search was performed to identify studies published since 2000. Thirty-one studies reported on 2,986 patients (mean age, 58.1 years) who required postcardiotomy VA-ECMO. The weaning rate from VA-ECMO was 59.5% and hospital survival was 36.1% (95% CI 31.5-40.8). The pooled rate of reoperation for bleeding was 42.9%, major neurological event 11.3%, lower limb ischemia 10.8%, deep sternal wound infection/mediastinitis 14.7%, and renal replacement therapy 47.1%. The pooled mean number of transfused red blood cell units was 17.7 (95% CI 13.3-22.1). The mean stay in the intensive care unit was 13.3 days (95% CI 10.2-16.4). Survivors were significantly younger (mean, 55.7 v 63.6 years, p = 0.015) and their blood lactate level before starting VA-ECMO was lower (mean, 7.7 v 10.7 mmol/L, p = 0.028) than patients who died. One-year survival rate was 30.9% (95% CI 24.3-37.5).
Pooled data showed that VA-ECMO may salvage one-third of patients unresponsive to any other resuscitative treatment after adult cardiac surgery.
We evaluated perioperative bleeding after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in patients preoperatively treated with ticagrelor or clopidogrel, stratified by discontinuation of these P2Y
...inhibitors.
All patients from the prospective, European Multicenter Registry on Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (E-CABG) treated with ticagrelor or clopidogrel undergoing isolated primary CABG were eligible. The primary outcome measure was severe or massive bleeding defined according to the Universal Definition of Perioperative Bleeding, stratified by P2Y
inhibitor discontinuation. Secondary outcome measures included four additional definitions of major bleeding. Propensity score matching was performed to adjust for differences in preoperative and perioperative covariates.
Of 2,311 patients who were included, 1,293 (55.9%) received clopidogrel and 1,018 (44.1%) ticagrelor preoperatively. Mean time between discontinuation and the operation was 4.5 ± 3.2 days for clopidogrel and 4.9 ± 3.0 days for ticagrelor. In the propensity score-matched cohort, ticagrelor-treated patients had a higher incidence of major bleeding according to Universal Definition of Perioperative Bleeding when ticagrelor was discontinued 0 to 2 days compared with 3 days before the operation (16.0% vs 2.7%, p = 0.003). Clopidogrel-treated patients had a higher incidence of major bleeding according to the Universal Definition of Perioperative Bleeding when clopidogrel was discontinued 0 to 3 days compared with 4 to 5 days before the operation (15.6% vs 8.3%, p = 0.031).
In patients receiving ticagrelor 2 days before CABG and in those receiving clopidogrel 3 days before CABG, there was an increased rate of severe bleeding. Postponing nonemergent CABG for at least 3 days after discontinuation of ticagrelor and 4 days after clopidogrel should be considered.
Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) without cardiopulmonary bypass and minimal or no aortic manipulation may be associated with a lower risk of neurological complications. We investigated this ...issue in patients with a high risk of perioperative stroke.
Data on 7352 patients who underwent isolated CABG from January 2015 to May 2017 were included in the multicenter study E-CABG (European Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting) registry. Of these, 684 patients had an increased risk of neurological complications, ie, previous stroke or transient ischemic attack, severe carotid artery stenosis or occlusion, or previous carotid artery intervention. In this subgroup, we analyzed the rates of the combined primary endpoint comprising any postoperative stroke or transient ischemic attack. A comparative analysis between CABG with and without aortic cross-clamping was performed.
The primary endpoint was more often reached when aortic cross-clamping was used (propensity score matching, without vs with aortic cross-clamp: 0.9% vs 7.2%; P = .016). In comparison with all other revascularization techniques, off-pump CABG with avoidance of aortic manipulation was associated with the lowest rate of neurological complications (0.7%).
In patients with increased risk of perioperative stroke, aortic manipulation including the use of cardiopulmonary bypass or partial clamping for central anastomoses is associated with higher rates of postoperative neurological complications. These patients may benefit from off-pump surgery without aortic manipulation if complete revascularization can be ensured.
Severe perioperative bleeding after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is associated with poor outcome. An additive score for prediction of severe bleeding was derived (n=2494) and validated ...(n=1250) in patients from the E-CABG registry. Severe bleeding was defined as E-CABG bleeding grades 2-3 (transfusion of >4 units of red blood cells or reoperation for bleeding). The overall incidence of severe bleeding was 6.4 %. Preoperative anaemia (3 points), female gender (2 points), eGFR <45 ml/min/1.73 m
(3 points), potent antiplatelet drugs discontinued less than five days (2 points), critical preoperative state (5 points), acute coronary syndrome (2 points), use of low-molecular-weight heparin/fondaparinux/unfractionated heparin (1 point) were independent predictors of severe bleeding. The WILL-BLEED score was associated with increasing rates of severe bleeding in both the derivation and validation cohorts (scores 0-3: 2.9 % vs 3.4 %; scores 4-6: 6.8 % vs 7.5 %; scores>6: 24.6 % vs 24.2 %, both p<0.0001). The WILL-BLEED score had a better discriminatory ability (AUC 0.725) for prediction of severe bleeding compared to the ACTION (AUC 0.671), CRUSADE (AUC 0.642), Papworth (AUC 0.605), TRUST (AUC 0.660) and TRACK (AUC 0.640) bleeding scores. The net reclassification index and integrated discrimination improvement using the WILL-BLEED score as opposed to the other bleeding scores were significant (p<0.0001). The decision curve analysis demonstrated a net benefit with the WILL-BLEED score compared to the other bleeding scores. In conclusion, the WILL-BLEED risk score is a simple risk stratification method which allows the identification of patients at high risk of severe bleeding after CABG.
To develop a risk score for deep sternal wound infection (DSWI) after isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).
Multicenter, prospective study.
Tertiary-care referral hospitals.
The study ...included 7,352 patients from the European multicenter coronary artery bypass grafting (E-CABG) registry.
Isolated CABG.
An additive risk score (the E-CABG DSWI score) was estimated from the derivation data set (66.7% of patients), and its performance was assessed in the validation data set (33.3% of patients).
DSWI occurred in 181 (2.5%) patients and increased 1-year mortality (adjusted hazard ratio, 4.275; 95% confidence interval CI, 2.804-6.517). Female gender (odds ratio OR, 1.804; 95% CI, 1.161-2.802), body mass index ≥30 kg/m2 (OR, 1.729; 95% CI, 1.166-2.562), glomerular filtration rate <45 mL/min/1.73 m2 (OR, 2.410; 95% CI, 1.413-4.111), diabetes (OR, 1.741; 95% CI, 1.178-2.573), pulmonary disease (OR, 1.935; 95% CI, 1.178-3.180), atrial fibrillation (OR, 1.854; 95% CI, 1.096-3.138), critical preoperative state (OR, 2.196; 95% CI, 1.209-3.891), and bilateral internal mammary artery grafting (OR, 2.088; 95% CI, 1.422-3.066) were predictors of DSWI (derivation data set). An additive risk score was calculated by assigning 1 point to each of these independent risk factors for DSWI. In the validation data set, the rate of DSWI increased along with the E-CABG DSWI scores (score of 0, 1.0%; score of 1, 1.8%; score of 2, 2.2%; score of 3, 6.9%; score ≥4: 12.1%; P < .0001). Net reclassification improvement, integrated discrimination improvement, and decision curve analysis showed that the E-CABG DSWI score performed better than other risk scores.
DSWI is associated with poor outcome after CABG, and its risk can be stratified using the E-CABG DSWI score.
clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT02319083.
Abstract Background The evidence of the benefits of using venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is scarce. Methods We analyzed the ...outcomes of patients who received VA-ECMO therapy due to cardiac or respiratory failure after isolated CABG in 12 centers between 2005 and 2016. Patients treated preoperatively with ECMO were excluded from this study. Results VA-ECMO was employed in 148 patients after CABG for median of 5.0 days (mean, 6.4, SD 5.6 days). In-hospital mortality was 64.2%. Pooled in-hospital mortality was 65.9% without significant heterogeneity between the centers (I2 8.6%). The proportion of VA-ECMO in each center did not affect in-hospital mortality ( p = 0.861). No patients underwent heart transplantation and six patients received a left ventricular assist device. Logistic regression showed that creatinine clearance ( p = 0.004, OR 0.98, 95% CI 0.97–0.99), pulmonary disease ( p = 0.018, OR 4.42, 95% CI 1.29–15.15) and pre-VA-ECMO blood lactate ( p = 0.015, OR 1.10, 95% CI 1.02–1.18) were independent baseline predictors of in-hospital mortality. One-, 2-, and 3-year survival was 31.0%, 27.9%, and 26.1%, respectively. Conclusions One third of patients with need for VA-ECMO after CABG survive to discharge. In view of the burden of resources associated with VA-ECMO treatment and the limited number of patients surviving to discharge, further studies are needed to identify patients who may benefit the most from this treatment.
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