The Annals of thoracic surgery
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Intraoperative High-Dose Dexamethasone in Cardiac Surgery and the Risk of Rethoracotomy.
Cardiac surgery with the use of cardiopulmonary bypass is associated with a systemic inflammatory response. Intraoperative corticosteroids are administered to attenuate this inflammatory response. The recent Dexamethasone for Cardiac Surgery (DECS) trial could not demonstrate a beneficial effect of dexamethasone on major adverse events in cardiac surgical patients. Previous studies suggest that corticosteroids may affect postoperative coagulation and blood loss, and therefore could influence the risk of surgical reinterventions. We investigated the effects of prophylactic intraoperative dexamethasone treatment on the rate of rethoracotomy after cardiac surgery. ⋯ Intraoperative high-dose dexamethasone administration in cardiac surgery was associated with an increased rethoracotomy risk.
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The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) quality benchmarks guide clinical outcome improvement in cardiac surgery. Failure to rescue (FTR) from postoperative morbidity is a proposed metric of program quality. We examined the effect of a quality improvement initiative guided by STS quality measures on outcomes and FTR. ⋯ Implementation of quality improvement initiatives significantly improves outcomes without affecting FTR rates. Further study is needed to determine if FTR provides additive value to quality assessment over existing STS metrics.
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Accurate risk assessment in patients presenting for aortic valve replacement (AVR) after prior coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is essential for appropriate selection of surgical versus percutaneous therapy. ⋯ In patients presenting for AVR after prior CABG, the STS online risk calculator overestimates risk for all but the highest risk patients. Using a cohort-specific recalibration equation, a substantial proportion of patients would be downgraded to lower risk categories. The cohort-specific recalibration correlates well with the existing generic quarterly STS recalibration. The findings of this study support recommendations for periodic recalibration of the online risk calculator in order to facilitate clinical decision making in real time.
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Postthoracotomy pain is quite intense. Epidural analgesia (EPI) has long been the gold standard but is often associated with hypotension and urinary retention. The recent availability of liposomal bupivacaine formulation (Exparel) stimulated us to use it for multilevel intercostal nerve blocks (IB) injected during open thoracotomy. ⋯ It appears that intraoperative IB with bupivacaine liposome at 6 levels during thoracotomy provided significantly better pain control in postoperative days 1 and 3, compared to EPI in this retrospective study. This technique is simple, safe, and reproducible. It does not require epidural space invasion, infusion pumps, or another service to comanage the postoperative pain therapy.