Journal of cardiothoracic and vascular anesthesia
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J. Cardiothorac. Vasc. Anesth. · Mar 2021
ReviewThe Impact of Anesthetic Regimen on Outcomes in Adult Cardiac Surgery: A Narrative Review.
Despite improvements in surgical techniques and perioperative care, cardiac surgery still is burdened by relatively high mortality and frequent major postoperative complications, including myocardial dysfunction, pulmonary complications, neurologic injury, and acute kidney injury. Although the surgeon's skills and volume and patient- and procedure-related risk factors play a major role in the success of cardiac surgery, there is growing evidence that also optimizing perioperative care may improve outcomes significantly. The present review focuses on the aspects of perioperative care that are strictly related to the anesthesia regimen, with special reference to volatile anesthetics and neuraxial anesthesia, whose effect on outcome in adult cardiac surgery has been investigated extensively.
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J. Cardiothorac. Vasc. Anesth. · Mar 2021
Randomized Controlled TrialUltrasound-Guided Pecto-Intercostal Fascial Block for Postoperative Pain Management in Cardiac Surgery: A Prospective, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial.
To explore the effect of pecto-intercostal fascial plane block (PIFB) on postoperative opioid requirements, pain scores, lengths of intensive care unit and hospital stays and incidence of postoperative delirium in cardiac surgical patients. ⋯ Patients who received PIFB with bupivacaine showed a decline in cumulative opioid consumption postoperatively, but this difference between the groups was not statistically significant. Low incidence of complications and improvement in visual analog scale pain scores suggested that the PIFB can be performed safely in this population and warrants additional studies with a larger sample size.
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J. Cardiothorac. Vasc. Anesth. · Mar 2021
ReviewCardioprotective Effect of Anesthetics: Translating Science to Practice.
Cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of mortality in the world, particularly among the aging population. Major adverse cardiac events are also a major contributor to perioperative complications, affecting 2.6% of noncardiac surgeries and up to 18% of cardiac surgeries. Cardioprotective effects of volatile anesthetics and certain intravenous anesthetics have been well-documented in preclinical studies; however, their clinical application has yielded conflicting results in terms of their efficacy. ⋯ Several recent reviews have focused on mechanistic dissection of anesthetic-mediated cardioprotection. The present review focuses on recent clinical trials investigating the cardioprotective effects of anesthetics in the past five years. In addition to highlighting the main outcomes of these trials, the authors provide their perspectives about the current gap in the field and potential directions for future investigations.