• Yan Zhao, Juan Wang, Muhan Li, Tingting Ma, Xingyue Zhang, Xin Xu, Min Zeng, and Yuming Peng.
• Department of Anesthesiology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
• World Neurosurg. 2023 Apr 1; 172: e291e298e291-e298.

ObjectiveTo assess the potential impact of the trigeminocardiac reflex (TCR) on postoperative adverse cardiac events and to identify predictors of the TCR in cerebellopontine angle surgery.MethodsPatients undergoing elective cerebellopontine angle surgery from October 1, 2015, to September 30, 2020, were recruited consecutively for this retrospective case-control study. The TCR was evaluated by reviewing electronic anesthesia records and defined as a drop in heart rate was >20%. Controls were identified from the same retrospective cohort and matched by age, sex, and similar (±5 days) surgery date in the ratio of 1:2.ResultsOf 2446 patients, 68 (2.78%) experienced TCR episodes. A total of 97 TCR episodes occurred among the 68 patients. In 2 TCR episodes, severe cardiac complications developed after surgery-myocardial injury in one case and cardiac arrest in the other case. The prevalence of adverse cardiovascular events was higher in the TCR group (60.3% vs. 36.0%, P = 0.001) than in the control group. The independent risk factor for the TCR in the multivariate condition logistic regression was tumor compression of the brainstem (odds ratio = 2.36, 95% confidence interval 1.40-3.95; P = 0.001).ConclusionsIntraoperative TCR episodes seemed to be associated with postoperative adverse cardiac events in patients undergoing cerebellopontine angle surgery. Moreover, tumor compression of the brainstem might be a risk factor for TCR episodes.Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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