Effect of cerebrospinal fluid drainage pressure in descending and thoracoabdominal aortic repair: a prospective multicenter observational study.

PURPOSE: Cerebrospinal fluid drainage (CSFD) is recommended during open or endovascular thoracic aortic repair. However, the incidence of CSFD complications is still high. Recently, CSF pressure has been kept high to avoid complications, but the efficacy of CSFD at higher pressures has not been confirmed. We hypothesize that CSFD at higher pressures is effective for preventing motor deficits. METHODS: This prospective observational study included 14 hospitals that are members of the Japanese Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists. Patients who underwent thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic repair were divided into four groups: Group 1, CSF pressure around 10 mmHg; Group 2, CSF pressure around 15 mmHg; Group 3, CSFD initiated when motor evoked potential amplitudes decreased; and Group 4, no CSFD. We assessed the association between the CSFD group and motor deficits using mixed-effects logistic regression with a random intercept for the institution. RESULTS: Of 1072 patients in the study, 84 patients (open surgery, 51; thoracic endovascular aortic repair, 33) had motor deficits at discharge. Groups 1 and 2 were not associated with motor deficits (Group 1, odds ratio (OR): 1.53, 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 0.71-3.29, p = 0.276; Group 2, OR: 1.73, 95% CI: 0.62-4.82) when compared with Group 4. Group 3 was significantly more prone to motor deficits than Group 4 (OR: 2.56, 95% CI: 1.27-5.17, p = 0.009). CONCLUSION: CSFD is not associated with motor deficits in thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic repair with CSF pressure around 10 or 15 mmHg.

Cerebrospinal fluid drainage to prevent postoperative spinal cord injury in thoracic aortic repair.

BACKGROUND: Cerebrospinal fluid drainage (CSFD) is recommended as a spinal cord protective strategy in open and endovascular thoracic aortic repair. Although small studies support the use of CSFD, systematic reviews have not suggested definite conclusion and a large-scale study is needed. Therefore, we reviewed medical records of patients who had undergone descending and thoracoabdominal aortic repair (both open and endovascular repair) at multiple institutions to assess the association between CSFD and postoperative motor deficits. METHODS: Patients included in this study underwent descending or thoracoabdominal aortic repair between 2000 and 2013 at 12 hospitals belonging to the Japanese Association of Spinal Cord Protection in Aortic Surgery. We conducted a retrospective study to investigate whether motor-evoked potential monitoring is effective in reducing motor deficits in thoracic aortic aneurysm repair. We use the same dataset to examine whether CSFD reduces motor deficits after propensity score matching. RESULTS: We reviewed data from 1214 patients [open surgery, 601 (49.5%); endovascular repair, 613 (50.5%)]. CSFD was performed in 417 patients and not performed in the remaining 797 patients. Postoperative motor deficits were observed in 75 (6.2%) patients at discharge. After propensity score matching (n = 700), mixed-effects logistic regression performed revealed that CSFD is associated with postoperative motor deficits at discharge [adjusted odds ratio (OR), 3.87; 95% confidence interval (CI), 2.30-6.51]. CONCLUSION: CSFD may not be effective for postoperative motor deficits at discharge.

[Preoperative Cardiovascular Evaluation and Management of Patients with Coronary Artery Disease].

With aging of population and increasing number of percutaneous coronary interventions, we frequently encounter patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and coronary artery stents in the perioperative period. CAD increases the risk of perioperative myocardial infarction which worsens prognosis. It is important for us to evaluate those patients properly. In this review, we describe a classification and characteristics of perioperative myocardial infarction and highlight the mechanism and risk factors of stent thrombosis. We present a way of evaluation and perioperative management of patients with CAD, based on recent guidelines and findings. We present our real cases and perioperative management of CAD and coronary artery stents.

[Anesthetic considerations for endovascular aortic repair (EVAR)].

The endovascular repair of thoracic aortic aneurysm and abdominal aortic aneurysm has become a promising alternative for open surgical graft replacement. The benefits of EVAR include less invasiveness, no need for cardiopulmonary bypass or differential lung ventilation, less blood loss, shorter hospital stay and reduced perioperative morbidity and mortality. Therefore EVAR is especially desirable for patients with impaired cardiopulmonary function or multiple comorbidities and they are at high risk of complications following general anesthesia such as stroke, myocardial infarction, acute renal insufficiency, infection and failure to wean from ventilator. Thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) also carries the risk of paraplegia induced by spinal cord ischemia. Previous abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, prolonged hypotension, severe atherosclerosis of the thoracic aorta, injury to the external iliac artery, and more extensive coverage of the thoracic aorta by the graft are reported to be the risk factors for paraplegia after TEVAR. In such cases, strategies to protect the spinal cord from ischemia including lumbar cerebrospinal fluid drainage should be taken.

Factors affecting the decision to defer endotracheal extubation after surgery for congenital heart disease: a prospective observational study.

BACKGROUND: Fast-tracking and early endotracheal extubation have been described in patients undergoing surgery for congenital heart disease (CHD); however, criteria for patient selection have not been validated in a prospective manner. Our goal in this study was to prospectively identify factors associated with the decision to defer endotracheal extubation in the operating room (OR). METHODS: We performed a prospective observational study of 275 patients (median age 18 months) at the Mount Sinai Medical Center (MSMC), New York, New York, and 49 patients (median age 25 months) at the University of Tokyo Hospital (UTH), Tokyo, Japan, undergoing surgery for CHD requiring cardiopulmonary bypass. These patients were all eligible for fast-tracking, including extubation in the OR immediately after surgery, according to the respective inclusion/exclusion criteria applied at the 2 sites. RESULTS: Eighty-nine percent of patients at the MSMC, and 65% of patients at the UTH were extubated in the OR. At the MSMC, all patients without aortic cross-clamp, and patients with simple procedures (Risk Adjustment for Congenital Heart Surgery [RACHS] score 1) were extubated in the OR. Among the remaining MSMC patients, regression analysis showed that procedure complexity was still an independent predictor for not proceeding with planned extubation in the OR. Extubation was more likely to be deferred in the RACHS score 3 surgical risk patients compared with the RACHS score 2 group (P = 0.005, odds ratio 3.8 [CI: 1.5, 9.7]). Additionally, trisomy 21 (P = 0.0003, odds ratio 9.9 [CI: 2.9, 34.5]) and age (P = 0.0015) were significant independent predictors for deferring OR extubation. We tested our findings on the patients from the UTH by developing risk categories from the MSMC data that ranked eligible patients according to the chance of OR extubation. The risk categories proved to predict endotracheal extubation in the 49 patients who had undergone surgery at the UTH relative to their overall extubation rate, despite differences in anesthetic regimen and inclusion/exclusion criteria. CONCLUSIONS: Preoperatively known factors alone can predict the relative chances of deferring extubation after surgery for CHD. The early extubation strategies applied in the 2 centers were successful in the majority of cases.

Bronchovenous Fistula During Adult Cardiac Surgery: A Case Report.

Bronchovenous fistula (BVF) associated with adult cardiac surgery is a rarely reported life-threatening condition. We present a 75-year-old woman who developed a BVF during cardiac surgery. Dense adhesion in the pleural and pericardial cavities was noted. Restrictive pulmonary pathology required high airway pressure. Transesophageal echocardiography and hemoglobin measurement were helpful for the timely diagnosis of BVF, which was controlled by transection of the right upper pulmonary vein where a vent catheter had been inserted. Injuries around the cannulated site presumably initiated the BVF, which was worsened by high-pressure ventilation. Therefore, cannulation site might be a risk factor for BVF.

Hyperlactatemia of dialysis-dependent patients after cardiac surgery impacts on in-hospital mortality: a two-center retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: Lactate is a well-known marker to estimate prognosis after cardiac surgery and critically ill patients. The liver and kidney have a major role in lactate metabolism; however, there was less characterized about the change of lactate and threshold to predict in-hospital mortality in dialysis-dependent patients undertaking cardiac surgery. We conducted this retrospective observational study to characterize when and how lactate values after cardiac surgery affected in-hospital mortality. METHODS: This two-center retrospective study included dialysis-dependent patients who underwent cardiac surgery with a cardiopulmonary bypass from January 2014 to December 2018. Lactate values were collected at three points: at ICU admission (T1), the maximum level of lactate within 24 h postoperatively (T2), and 24 h after ICU admission (T3). We determined hyperlactatemia as more than 2 mmol/L following previous studies. RESULTS: We enrolled 122 dialysis-dependent patients. The mean age was 73 ± 8 years and hyperlactatemia was observed in 100 patients (81.9%). In-hospital mortality was 11.4%. Univariate analysis and area under curve in ROC suggested that T2 lactate was the most significantly associated with in-hospital mortality (AUC = 0.845). Multivariate logistic analysis showed a significant association between in-hospital mortality when patients showed early peak lactate levels of > 4.5 mmol/L after ICU admission (adjusted OR 8.35; 95% CI: 1.44-57.13). CONCLUSIONS: In dialysis-dependent patients after cardiac surgery, the early-onset of a maximum arterial lactate concentration of > 4.5 mmol/L was significantly associated with in-hospital mortality.

[The change of difficulty in intubation as growth in patients with Treacher-Collins syndrome and Pierre-Robin syndrome].

BACKGROUND: Previous reports revealed that difficulties in tracheal intubation for patients with Treacher-Collins syndrome (TCS) progresses as growth; however it declines in those with Pierre-Robin syndrome (PRS). We tried to confirm these reports. METHODS: We retrospectively examined the anesthetic records of intubated patients with TCS and PRS without tracheotomy from January 2002 to August 2006. RESULTS: We experienced 10 times of intubation in 5 TCS patients and 6 times in 4 with PRS. No obvious change was observed in its difficulty depending on the growth in both syndromes. CONCLUSIONS: The difficulty of intubation depends on the characteristics of each patient rather than growth.

[Ideal intraoperative management to prevent perioperative complications].

Anesthesiologists can contribute considerably to prevent both intra- and post-operative complications. Intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography can be utilized to visualize potential hazards at various stages in cardiac surgery; aortic and venous cannulation, left ventricular vent tube insertion and removal of residual air in cardiac chambers. Near infrared spectroscopy is employed for early detection of cerebral ischemia. A more than 20 percent of decrease from the preoperative baseline probably indicates cerebral ischemia and prompts some measures to improve cerebral oxygenation. Separate lung ventilation can be offered by using a combination of a normal endotracheal tube and a bronchial blocker instead of a double lumen tube in order to avoid a tube exchange at the end of operation which is sometimes difficult and dangerous. Intraoperative awareness should be avoided by administering additional sedatives especially at a rewarming phase of cardiopulmonary bypass. Intraoperative shivering causes excessive oxygen demands and should be prevented by giving enough amounts of muscle relaxants. Temperature and glucose controls are also important to decrease surgery-related morbidity and mortality. A premature cease of rewarming by cardiopulmonary bypass and extra heating after bypass may well be considered. High thoracic epidural anesthesia is possibly beneficial to reduce patients' stress, improve postoperative pulmonary function and hasten recovery.

[Wastage of anesthetic related drugs in a university hospital].

BACKGROUND: The cost of wasted anesthetic related agents has not been clear in Japanese hospitals. We investigated whether the trainees in anesthesiology influence the cost of wasted anesthetic related agents. METHODS: Investigation was carried out at the University of Tokyo Hospital. We interviewed each trainee in anesthesiology about all prepared anesthetic drugs and wasted ones at the end of each anesthetic management. RESULTS: The percentage of wasted ampoules of anesthetic related agents was 15.85%, but the percentage of wasted cost was 5.15%. A large difference was not observed in transition of training period, and this percentage was not improved by training. We considered that this wasted cost is within permissible ranges in comparison with other reports. CONCLUSIONS: During the training it is also important to develop a sense of medical economics.

Time course of systolic and diastolic blood pressure decreases during the preintubation period of anesthesia induction: modeling with a logistic function.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) decreases during the preintubation period could be expressed as 4-parameter logistic and cubic functions giving S-shaped curves. DESIGN: Prospective, clinical study. SETTING: Operating room of a metropolitan general hospital. PATIENTS: Seven ASA physical status I and II patients scheduled for elective spinal surgery during general anesthesia. INTERVENTIONS: Anesthesia was induced with fentanyl, propofol, and vecuronium injection followed by inhalation of sevoflurane. MEASUREMENTS: The SBP and DBP data were recorded at all beats from fentanyl injection to direct laryngoscopy. The respective changes were analyzed using a logistic function: P(t) = p(L) + (q(L) - p(L))/(1 + exp{[4 m(L)/(q(L) - p(L))][k(L) - t]}) and a cubic function: P(t) = at(3) + bt(2) + ct + d, where parameter p(L) is the upper asymptote, q(L) is the lower asymptote, m(L) is the slope at the inflection point, and k(L) is the time to the inflection point and where a, b, and c are coefficients, and d are constants. Goodness of fit of the two functions was compared using a correlation coefficient and residual mean squares. Each parameter was compared with the corresponding observed data. MAIN RESULTS: Logistic correlation coefficient values for SBP and DBP decreases were larger than the cubic correlation coefficient values (0.990 [Z transformation: 2.64 +/- 0.32] vs 0.981 [Z: 2.32 +/- 0.37] and 0.977 [Z: 2.22 +/- 0.33] vs 0.967 [Z: 2.05 +/- 0.34], respectively; P < 0.05). Logistic residual mean squares values for SBP and DBP decreases were smaller than cubic residual mean squares values (20.6 vs 41.0 and 9.2 vs 13.7 mmHg(2), respectively; P < 0.05). There were significant correlations between p(L) and SBP or DBP after anesthesia induction, between q(L) and SBP or DBP before endotracheal intubation, and between k(L) and time to maximal rate of the SBP or DBP decrease (dP/dt(min)), but no significant correlation between m(L) and dP/dt(min) for SBP or DBP. CONCLUSIONS: Time courses of SBP and DBP decreases during the preintubation period of anesthesia induction are modeled effectively by a logistic function.

[Intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography].

Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is an essential tool for all the cardiovascular surgeries. It has many roles intraoperatively including confirmation of preoperative diagnosis, guiding cannulation for cardiopulmonary bypass, monitoring myocardial contractility as well as loading conditions, helping the surgeon to evacuate residual intracardiac air after cardiotomy, and ensuring successful surgical results after coming off from cardiopulmonary bypass. Since TEE probe is placed very close to the left atrium, much more detailed images of the heart can be obtained by TEE than by transthoracic echocardiography. To fully utilize TEE, you need to be familiar with ultrasonography physics, common artifacts, and basic images. When performing TEE examination in anesthetized patients, you should be extremely careful to avoid TEE-related complications such as esophageal perforation, endotracheal tube displacement, and hemodynamic/ventilatory disturbance. It requires a lot of expertise to be able to make full use of TEE. The amount and quality of information which can be obtained from TEE are heavily operator-dependent. Therefore, continuous efforts to improve the skill and quality assurance are mandatory. An annual qualifying exam for TEE is available from the Japanese Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesia.

Successful Anticoagulation Using Argatroban During Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation in a Patient With Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia.

We report the first case of transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve implantation with a history of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia that was successfully managed with perioperative argatroban.

[How do you intubate the trachea?].

We examined whether there was a difference in the description of the tracheal intubation technique among the Japanese textbooks of anesthesiology. We examined Japanese textbooks of anesthesiology stored in a university medical library. We found a considerable difference in the description concerning the technique of the tracheal intubation. To achieve the better compulsory clinical training, we think it is necessary to make a certain criterion for the tracheal intubation.

Increased cerebrovascular resistance after retrograde cerebral perfusion: a Doppler study.

Deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA) with retrograde cerebral perfusion (RCP) under high central venous pressure (CVP) is often used in aortic arch surgery under cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). We hypothesized that DHCA with RCP under high CVP causes cerebral vascular compression because of increased perivascular pressure due to extravasation of fluid into intracranial tissue. In a retrospective study, we evaluated the pulsatility index (PI) and resistance index (RI) of the internal carotid arteries (ICA) and external carotid arteries (ECA) before and after CPB in 15 patients who underwent DHCA/RCP (group 1) and 17 patients who underwent regular CPB without DHCA/RCP (group 2). Both indices are known to reflect vascular resistance distal to the measurement point. The PI and RI of the ICA increased significantly after the procedure in group 1 but did not change in group 2. The PI and RI of the ECA did not change in either group. In group 1, the rate of increase in PI and RI correlated with the duration of RCP, which was significantly higher in patients who had postoperative delirium than in patients who did not experience postoperative delirium. As increases in PI/RI after DHCA/RCP occurred only in the ICA, we concluded that the changes were due to compression of vessels as a result of increased perivascular pressure. The greater increase in the PI/RI in patients who experienced postoperative delirium indicates that increased perivascular pressure plays a role in the occurrence of postoperative delirium after DHCA/RCP.

Extubation in the operating room after congenital heart surgery in children.

OBJECTIVE: Early extubation in the operating room after surgery for congenital heart disease has been described; however, postoperative mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit remains common practice in many institutions. The goal of this study was to identify perioperative factors associated with not proceeding with planned operating room extubation. METHODS: We performed a retrospective chart review of 224 patients (aged 1 month to 18 years, median 20 months) undergoing surgery for congenital heart defects requiring cardiopulmonary bypass. Patients mechanically ventilated preoperatively were excluded. A stepwise logistic regression model was used to test for the independent influence of various perioperative factors on extubation in the operating room. RESULTS: Overall, 79% of patients were extubated in the operating room. Younger age and longer cardiopulmonary bypass time were the strongest predictors for not extubating. Each step down to a younger age group (<2, 2-4, 4-6, 6-12, >12 months) reduced the chance of extubation in the operating room by 56%. Cardiopulmonary bypass time for more than 150 minutes was associated with an 11.8-fold increased risk of not being extubated. Male gender and high inotrope requirement after cardiopulmonary bypass were also significantly associated with fewer children being extubated. CONCLUSION: Extubation in the operating room after surgery for congenital heart disease was successful in the majority of patients. The strongest independent risk factors for failure of this strategy included younger age and longer cardiopulmonary bypass time.