Choice of anesthesia technique is associated with earlier hospital discharge and reduced costs after transcatheter transfemoral aortic valve implantation.

Background: Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has become a viable alternative to palliation in patients with severe aortic stenosis. We compared general anesthesia to conscious sedation for TAVI procedures with respect to post operative morbidity, hospital length of stay, and financial burden. Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of prospectively collected data in patients undergoing transfemoral TAVI procedures from 2012 to 2017. Patients were matched based on age and sex and classed into either general anesthesia or conscious sedation groups respectively. Conscious sedation was provided with a dexmedetomidine infusion, and patients in general anesthesia group received a standard induction, tracheal intubation, and maintenance with sevoflurane. The hospital case costs were compared between the two groups before and after adjustment for inflation. Results: We matched 124 pairs for a total of 248 patients. Both groups were similar with respect to demographic data, past medical history, medications, and intraoperative characteristics. There was no difference in postoperative morbidity and mortality between the two groups. The median hospital length of stay was 5 [interquartile range (IQR): 3, 10] and 7 (IQR: 4, 12) days, P=0.01, and after adjustment for inflation, the total hospital case costs were $48,984 (IQR: $44,802, $61,438) Canadian (CAD) vs. $55,333 (IQR: $46,832, $68,702) CAD, P=0.01, in the conscious sedation and general anesthesia groups, respectively. Conclusions: Advancements in TAVI technologies, conscious sedation and a collaborative, multidisciplinary team approach reduces overall length of hospital stay and procedure costs.

Perioperative Cardiovascular Risk Assessment and Management in Liver Transplant Recipients: A Review of the Literature Merging Guidelines and Interventions.

Liver transplantation (LT) is the second most performed solid organ transplant. Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a critical consideration for LT candidacy, particularly in patients with known CAD or risk factors, including metabolic dysfunction associated with steatotic liver disease. The presence of severe CAD may exclude patients from LT; therefore, precise preoperative evaluation and interventions are necessary to achieve transplant candidacy. Cardiovascular complications represent the earliest nongraft-related cause of death post-transplantation. Timely intervention to reduce cardiovascular events depends on adequate CAD screening. Coronary disease screening in end-stage liver disease is challenging because standard noninvasive CAD screening tests have low sensitivity due to hyperdynamic state and vasodilatation. As a result, there is overuse of invasive coronary angiography to exclude severe CAD. Coronary artery calcium scoring using a computed tomography scan is a tool for the prediction of cardiovascular events, and can be used to achieve risk stratification in LT candidates. Recent literature shows that qualitative assessment on both noncontrast- and contrast-enhanced chest computed tomography can be used instead of calcium score to assess the presence of coronary calcium. With increasing prevalence, protocols to address CAD in LT candidates must be reconsidered. Percutaneous coronary intervention could allow a shorter duration of dual-antiplatelet therapy in simple lesions, with safer perioperative outcomes. Hybrid coronary revascularization is an option for high-risk LT candidates with multivessel disease nonamenable to percutaneous coronary intervention. The objective of this review is to evaluate existing methods for preoperative cardiovascular risk stratification, and to describe interventions before surgery to optimize patient outcomes and reduce cardiovascular event risk.

Perioperative management of living donor liver transplantation: Part 2 - Donors.

Living donor liver transplantation was first developed to mitigate the limited access to deceased donor organs in Asia in the 1990s. This alternative liver transplantation method has become a widely practiced and established transplantation option for adult patients suffering with end-stage liver disease, and it has successfully helped address the shortage of deceased donors. The Society for the Advancement of Transplant Anesthesia and the Korean Society of Transplantation Anesthesiologists jointly reviewed published studies on the perioperative management of adult live liver donors undergoing donor hemi-hepatectomy. The goal of the review is to offer transplant anesthesiologists and critical care physicians a comprehensive overview of the perioperative management of adult live donors. We featured the current status, donor selection process, outcomes and complications, surgical procedure, anesthetic management, Enhanced Recovery After Surgery protocols, avoidance of blood transfusion, and considerations for emergency donation. Recent surgical advances, including laparoscopic donor hemi-hepatectomy and robotic laparoscopic donor surgery, are also addressed.

Selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors: risk of blood product transfusion and inotrope requirements in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.

BACKGROUND: Patients undergoing cardiac surgery exhibit a high prevalence of concomitant depression. The first-line pharmacological treatment modality for depression includes selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Despite their efficacy, SSRIs are not without their own side-effects. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective observational study to determine if preoperative SSRI therapy was associated with higher rates of perioperative blood product transfusion, and higher incidence of inotropic requirements in patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery. A total of 2,943 patients were included in the study. Patients undergoing emergency surgery or surgery without cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) were excluded. Based on preoperative SSRI status patients were classed into either SSRI group (n=95), or non-SSRI group (n=2,848). Data was acquired from the Toronto Anesthesia Perioperative Outcomes Database. RESULTS: Baseline preoperative variables included age, sex, body surface area, smoking history, past medical history, preoperative medications, baseline hemoglobin, creatinine, and planned surgical procedures. Perioperative transfusion of blood products and inotropic utilization were collected. Univariate analysis showed that patients in SSRI group were more likely to be female, have history of congestive heart failure, preoperative anemia, and likelihood of having more complex surgery, received more inotropes and fresh frozen plasma, and were more likely to have chest reopening for bleeding. There was no difference in postoperative morbidity and mortality between the SSRI and non-SSRI groups. Separate statistical models were constructed to determine association between transfusion of red blood cells, fresh frozen plasma, platelets, composite inotrope use, and SSRI therapy. SSRI variable was not significant in any of the multivariate models, indicating the lack of evidence of association between the SSRIs and either blood product transfusion, or inotrope requirements. Significant predictors of blood product transfusion included smaller body surface area, female gender, older age, low baseline hemoglobin levels, elevated creatinine, increased CPB, presence of deep hypothermic circulatory arrest, complex cardiac surgery, history diabetes mellitus, and congestive heart failure. Predictors of inotrope use included older age, elevated creatinine, increased CPB time, history of diabetes mellitus, and congestive heart failure. CONCLUSIONS: The current study suggests that modifying preoperative therapy pertinent to SSRI treatment in patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery is not warranted.