Performance of the EuroSCORE II Model in Predicting Short-Term Mortality of General Cardiac Surgery: A Single-Center Study in Taiwan.

Background: The latest European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (EuroSCORE) II is a well-accepted risk evaluation system for mortality in cardiac surgery in Europe. Objectives: To determine the performance of this new model in Taiwanese patients. Methods: Between January 2012 and December 2014, 657 patients underwent cardiac surgery at our institution. The EuroSCORE II scores of all patients were determined preoperatively. The short-term surgical outcomes of 30-day and in-hospital mortality were evaluated to assess the performance of the EuroSCORE II. Results: Of the 657 patients [192 women (29.22%); age 63.5 ± 12.68 years], the 30-day mortality rate was 5.48%, and the in-hospital mortality rate was 9.28%. The discrimination power of this new model was good in all populations, regardless of 30-day mortality or in-hospital mortality. Good accuracy was also noted in different procedures related to coronary artery bypass grafting, and good calibration was noted for cardiac procedures (p value > 0.05). When predicting surgical death within 30 days, the EuroSCORE II overestimated the risk (observed to expected: 0.79), but in-hospital mortality was underestimated (observed to expected: 1.33). The predictive ability [area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve] and calibration of the EuroSCORE II for 30-day mortality (0.792) and in-hospital mortality (0.825) suggested that in-hospital mortality is a better endpoint for the EuroSCORE II. Conclusions: The new EuroSCORE II model performed well in predicting short-term outcomes among patients undergoing general cardiac surgeries. For short-term outcomes, in-hospital mortality was better than 30-day mortality as an indicator of surgical results, suggesting that it may be a better endpoint for the EuroSCORE II.

Main pulmonary artery aneurysm.

Pulmonary artery aneurysm is a rare lesion of the thoracic cavity. Different etiologies have been reviewed, but idiopathic lesions without other symptoms are seldom reported. Usually, surgical interventions are suggested, but the long-term outcomes are not well established. Here, we report a 24-year-old man with main pulmonary artery aneurysm who successfully underwent aneurysmectomy and polytetrafluoroethylene vascular graft replacement. The postoperative course was uneventful, and the following image study revealed normal size of the great vessels.

Performance of European system for cardiac operative risk evaluation in Veterans General Hospital Kaohsiung cardiac surgery.

BACKGROUND: The European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (EuroSCORE) model is a widely-used risk prediction algorithm for in-hospital or 30-day mortality in adult cardiac surgery patients. Recent studies indicated that EuroSCORE tends to overpredict mortality. The aim of our study is to evaluate the validity of EuroSCORE in Veterans General Hospital Kaohsiung (VGHKS) cardiac surgery including a number of different surgical and risk subgroups. METHODS: From January 2006 to December 2009, 1,240 adult patients who underwent cardiac surgery in VGHKS were included in this study. The study was followed the guidelines of the Ethics Committee of Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan. Both additive and logistic score of all patients were calculated depending on the formula in the official EuroSCORE website. The entire cohort, different surgical type and risk stratification subgroups were analyzed. Model discrimination was tested by determining the area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Model calibration was tested by the Hosmer-Lemeshow chi-square test. Clinical performance of model was assessed by comparing the observed and predicted mortality rates. RESULTS: There were significant differences between the VGHKS and European cardiac surgical populations. The additive score and logistic score for the overall group were 7.16% and 12.88%, respectively. Observed mortality was 10.72% overall, 5.68% for isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), 4.67% for the mitral valve only and 4.25% for the aortic valve only group. The discriminative ability EuroSCORE was very good in all and various surgical subgroups, with area under the ROC curve from 0.75 to 0.87. The addictive and logistic models of EuroSCORE showed excellent accuracy, 0.839 and 0.845, respectively. Good calibration power was recognized by p value higher than 0.05 for the entire cohort and all subgroups of patients except for isolated CABG. The logistic EuroSCORE model overestimated mortality to different degrees in the various subgroups, indicating that the logistic EuroSCORE needs to be recalibrated by a factor about 0.55 for uncomplicated surgery and low-risk groups, and 0.85 for high-risk patients with original additive score more than six. CONCLUSION: EuroSCORE is simple and easy to use. In the present study, the model demonstrated excellent accuracy in all and various surgical subgroups in VGHKS cardiovascular surgery populations. Good calibration ability in all and different risk categories was identified except for isolated CABG group. Recalibration factors of 0.55 and 0.85 were suggested for the various operative subgroups and risk categories.