Continuous postoperative pericardial flushing reduces postoperative bleeding after coronary artery bypass grafting: a randomized trial

Background: Prolonged or excessive bleeding after cardiac surgery can lead to a broad spectrum of secondary complications. One of the underlying causes is incomplete wound drainage, with subsequent accumulation of blood and clots in the pericardium. We developed the continuous postoperative pericardial flushing (CPPF) therapy to improve wound drainage and reduce postoperative blood loss and bleeding-related complications after cardiac surgery. This study compared CPPF to standard care in patients after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).Methods: This is a single center, open label, randomized trial that enrolled patients at the Amsterdam UMC, location AMC, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The study was registered at the 'Netherlands Trial Register', study identifier NTR5200 [1]. Adults undergoing CABG were randomly assigned to receive CPPF therapy or standard care, participants and investigators were not masked to group assignment. The primary end point was postoperative blood loss in the first 12-hours after surgery.Findings: Between the January 15, 2014 and the March 13, 2017, 169 patients were enrolled and assigned to CPPF therapy (study group; n = 83) or standard care (control group; n = 86). CPPF reduced postoperative blood loss when compared to standard care (median differences -385 ml, reduction 76% p=<= 0.001), with the remark that these results are overestimated due to a measurement error in part of the study group. None of patients in the study group required reoperation for non-surgical bleeding versus 3 (4%, 95% CI -0.4% to 7.0%) in the control group. None of the patients in the study group suffered from cardiac tamponade, versus 3 (4%, 95% CI -0,4% to 7.0%) in the control group. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was (sic)116.513 (95% bootstrap CI (sic)-882.068 to (sic)+897.278).Interpretation: The use of CPPF therapy after CABG seems to reduce bleeding and bleeding related complications. With comparable costs and no improvement in Qualty of Life (QoL), cost consideration for the implementation of CPPF is not relevant. None of the patients in the study group required re-interventions for nonsurgical bleeding or acute cardiac tamponade, which underlines the proof of concept of this novel therapy. (c) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)Thoracic Surger

Malondialdehyde in plasma, a biomarker of global oxidative stress during mini-CABG compared to on- and off-pump CABG surgery: A pilot study

In contrast to conventional on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting only mild increase of parameters of oxidative stress is reported during and after off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting. In an attempt to reduce the side effects of extra corporeal circulation the miniextra corporeal circulation concept was introduced. In this study peroperative oxidative stress biomarkers were compared using three different techniques for CABG (conventional, mini and off-pump). It concerns a prospective randomized pilot study of 60 aged patients (70q years) divided over 3 study groups. During the peroperative time points there was a significant increase in the mean concentration of uric acid for the CCABG group. On arrival at the intensive care unit the mean concentrations decreased significantly. During the peroperative period all groups showed significant increase in the concentration of malondialdehyde, however, this increase was the steepest for the CCABG group. On arrival at the intensive care unit the mean concentration decreased significantly for all groups. We found only mild organ ischemiayreperfusion injury and oxidative stress in the OPCAB group and the MCABG group with respect to the CCABG grou