Impact of lung cancer screening on surgical stage distribution and surgical practice: a regional analysis of patients operated in and out of a screening program.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess variations in surgical stage distribution in 2 centres within the same UK region. One centre was covered by an active screening program started in November 2018 and the other was not covered by screening. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of 1895 patients undergoing lung resections (2018-2022) in 2 centres. Temporal distribution was tested using Chi-squared for trends. A lowess curve was used to plot the proportion of stage 1A patients amongst those operated over the years. RESULTS: The surgical populations in the 2 centres were similar. In the screening unit (SU), we observed a 18% increase in the proportion of patients with clinical stage IA in the recent phase compared to the early phase (59% vs 50%, P = 0.004), whilst this increase was not seen in the unit without screening. This difference was attributable to an increase of cT1aN0 patients in the SU (16% vs 11%, P = 0.035) which was not observed in the other unit (10% vs 8.2%, P = 0.41). In the SU, there was also a three-fold increase in the proportion of sublobar resections performed in the recent phase compared to the early one (35% vs 12%, P < 0.001). This finding was not evident in the unit without screening. CONCLUSIONS: Lung cancer screening is associated with a higher proportion of lung cancers being detected at an earlier stage with a consequent increased practice of sublobar resections.

Intermittent Cross-Clamp Fibrillation Versus Cardioplegic Arrest During Coronary Surgery in 6,680 Patients: A Contemporary Review of an Historical Technique.

OBJECTIVE: Myocardial management during on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery includes aortic cross-clamping followed by fibrillation (XCF) and aortic cross-clamping followed by diastolic cardioplegia (cardioplegia). The authors wished to compare in-hospital and survival outcomes between these procedures. DESIGN: A retrospective observational study utilizing propensity matching. SETTING: Tertiary Referral Centre for Heart Surgery. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 8,875 consecutive patients undergoing CABG surgery between August 1999 and February 2018. INTERVENTIONS: After 1:1 matching, the authors had 3,340 patients in the cardioplegia group and 3,340 in the XCF group. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Baseline characteristics were not significant between the matched cardioplegia and XCF groups. The XCF group had shorter pump times (61.8 minutes +/-26.8 v 74.7 minutes +/-29.5, p < 0.0001) and shorter cross-clamp times (27.80 minutes +/-10.5 v 44.44 minutes +/-18.0, p < 0.0001) compared with the cardioplegia group despite a similar median number of distal anastomoses (3 v 3, p = 0.08). After surgery, atrial arrhythmias (32% v 36%, p = 0.01) and inotropic requirement (25% v 28%, p = 0.006) were less in the XCF group compared with the cardioplegia group, respectively. Other postoperative outcomes (such as mortality and cerebrovascular events) were not statistically different. There was a mean survival advantage in using cardioplegia compared with XCF (15.4 years versus 14.7 years, log-rank, p = 0.014; 10-year survival 64% v 61% and 18-year survival 38% v 34%). CONCLUSION: This is the largest analysis of XCF. XCF does not adversely affect in-hospital outcomes. Long-term results demonstrate cardioplegic arrest may convey a survival advantage that would preclude routine XCF in the modern era.

Changing clinical profiles and in-hospital outcomes of octogenarians undergoing cardiac surgery over 18 years: a single-centre experience†.

OBJECTIVES: With an ageing population, increasing numbers of octogenarians are undergoing high-risk cardiac surgery. We examine the changing characteristics and in-hospital outcomes for octogenarians over an 18-year period. METHODS: Clinical data from our prospective database for all octogenarians who had cardiac surgery from March 1999 through May 2016 were reviewed. We examined trends, risk profiles and in-hospital outcomes over 3 eras, namely early (1999-2004), middle (2005-2010) and late (2011-2016). A multivariable analysis was performed to identify independent predictors for adverse outcomes. RESULTS: There were 1022 patients aged 80-94 years in our study cohort. The octogenarian population increased progressively from early to late eras (4.5%, n = 255 vs 7.1%, n = 321 vs 9.3%, n = 446), as the average logistic EuroSCORE predicted mortality (9% vs 9.7% vs 10.1%, P < 0.01). On the contrary, observed mortality declined substantially (9.4% vs 7.8% vs 4.7%, P = 0.04) over this period. While cardiac morbidity and respiratory comorbidities were more prevalent in the late era, chronic renal failure was more frequent in the early era. Over time, more procedures were performed electively (P = 0.05). Common operations across all eras were coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), aortic valve replacement and CABG + aortic valve replacement. Emergency operation [odds ratio (OR) 4.96, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.51-16.35; P < 0.01], poor ejection fraction (OR 3.38, 95% CI 1.80-6.32; P < 0.01) and bypass time (OR 1.01, 95% CI 1.00-1.02; P < 0.01) were predictors of in-hospital mortality. The late era of surgery (OR 0.41, 95% CI 0.23-0.73; P < 0.01) was associated with reduced mortality risk. CONCLUSIONS: The operative outcome in this growing surgical population is steadily improving despite the increasing prevalence of comorbidities, and surgery should be performed electively as much as possible.

Mini-extracorporeal circulation technology, conventional bypass and prime displacement in isolated coronary and aortic valve surgery: a propensity-matched in-hospital and survival analysis.

OBJECTIVES: Conventional cardiopulmonary bypass is the most commonly used means of artificial circulation in cardiac surgery. However, it suffers from the effects of haemodilution and activation of inflammatory/coagulation cascades. Prime displacement (PD) can offset haemodilution and mini-extracorporeal technology (MIECT) can offset both. So far, no study has compared all of these modalities together; hence, we compared the outcomes of these 3 modalities at our institution. METHODS: This was a retrospective analysis of our cardiac surgical database. A total of 9626 patients underwent conventional bypass (CB), 3125 patients underwent a modification of CB, called PD, and 904 underwent MIECT. A 1:1 propensity-matching algorithm was employed using IBM SPSS 24 to match (i) 813 MIECT patients with 813 CB patients and (ii) 717 MIECT patients with 717 PD patients. The patients included coronary artery bypass grafting and valve surgery. RESULTS: MIECT had significantly (P < 0.05) longer bypass and cross-clamp times compared to CB and PD. MIECT had significantly higher rates of postoperative atrial fibrillation associated with it compared to CB. The mean red cell blood transfusion was significantly lower in the MIECT group compared to the CB group as was the mean platelet transfusion and fresh frozen plasma transfusion. The overall 5-year survival was higher in the MIECT group compared to the CB group (log-rank, P = 0.018). Between the MIECT and the PD groups, we found the incidence of renal failure and gastrointestinal complications to be significantly higher in the PD group compared to the MIECT group. CONCLUSIONS: MIECT has short-term advantages over CB and PD. However, due to the retrospective limitations of the study, including calendar time bias, a multicentre randomized controlled trial comparing all 3 modalities will be beneficial for the larger cardiac community.

Short- and long-term outcomes of pneumonectomy in a tertiary center.

BACKGROUND: Surgery is the most important therapeutic modality for lung cancer. Surgical outcomes are normally reported as 30-day or 90-day mortality or 5-year survival; 10-year survival is rarely mentioned in national data or international studies. METHODS: Three hundred and six patients (79% male) underwent pneumonectomy, mainly for lung cancer, from January 1998 to February 2013. Their short- and long-term outcomes up to September 2014 were analyzed retrospectively. The mean age was 64 years (range 22-82 years) and 24% were aged ≥70 years. Thoracoscore was used to calculate the risk of hospital mortality. RESULTS: Operative mortality was 4.5% whereas predicted mortality was 8%. The operative mortality for cancer patients was 3.3%; the national mortality for lung cancer is 6.5%. Only 2 patients died in hospital after a pneumonectomy in the last 5 years. Half of the patients who died in hospital were ≥70 years old; 29% (4 patients) died after urgent operations for nonmalignant disease. Overall 5- and 10-year survival was 32% and 20%. Median and mean survival was 26 and 57 months, respectively. Long-term survival was better in females aged <70 years, in left pneumonectomy patients, and in those with squamous cell lung cancer. CONCLUSION: Our mortality for pneumonectomy was 50% less than the national mortality rate and significantly lower than that predicted by the Thoracoscore for lung cancer. This confirms that pneumonectomy is still an effective modality for the treatment of lung cancer, with low operative mortality and good long-term survival, especially in younger patients.

Long-term prognosis and a prediction model for acute bowel ischaemia following cardiac surgery.

OBJECTIVES: Bowel ischaemia following cardiac surgery is associated with a high postoperative mortality. No scoring system exists as yet to predict this complication following surgery. In addition, the long-term survival is not known. We sought to evaluate in-hospital outcomes and long-term outcomes in bowel ischaemia following cardiac surgery. We also sought to devise a simple risk prediction model for this catastrophic entity. METHODS: This was a retrospective study of data entered prospectively into our cardiac surgical database between July 1999 and May 2014. We compared the short- and long-term outcomes of patients who developed bowel ischaemia following cardiac surgery with those who did not develop bowel ischaemia using propensity-matched analysis. We developed a prediction model for bowel ischaemia from logistic regression. RESULTS: In total, 13 853 patients underwent cardiac surgery. Of these, 85 had confirmed bowel ischaemia following surgery. The in-hospital mortality rate for those with bowel ischaemia was 60%, while in those without bowel ischaemia, the mortality rate was 3% (P < 0.0001). In those bowel ischaemia patients who had a laparotomy for corrective surgery, the in-hospital mortality was significantly less compared with those who did not have a laparotomy (39.2 vs 91.2%, P < 0.0001). The long-term survival for bowel ischaemia at 2, 6 and 10 years was 35% (±5), 31% (±5) and 26% (+/6), respectively. Multivariable analysis revealed that advanced age at surgery, peripheral vascular disease, intra-aortic balloon pump usage, NYHA IV and postoperative atrial fibrillation were the significant (P < 0.005) determinants of developing postoperative bowel ischaemia. We developed a model to predict bowel ischaemia and validated it within our population (c-index = 0.781). CONCLUSIONS: We have shown that whilst bowel ischaemia carries a higher short-term mortality, the long-term mortality is not significantly greater for those few who survive to discharge. We have developed a simple prediction model to identify those at high risk of developing bowel ischaemia following cardiac surgery in order to optimize perioperative strategies in future.

WITHDRAWN: Is there life after the Mesothelioma and Radical Surgery trial? Does extrapleural pneumonectomy still have a role in the management of pleural mesothelioma? A 13-year, single-center experience.

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The effect of deep hypothermia on the human pulmonary circulation.

OBJECTIVE: Acute rises in pulmonary artery pressures following complex cardiac surgery are associated with high morbidity and mortality. We hypothesised that periods of deep hypothermia predispose to elevated pulmonary pressures upon rewarming. We investigated the effect of this hypothermic preconditioning on isolated human pulmonary arteries and isolated perfused lungs. METHODS: Isometric tension was measured in human pulmonary artery rings (n=24). We assessed the constriction and dilation of these arteries at 37 °C and 17 °C. Isolated perfused human lung models consisted of lobes ventilated via a bronchial cannula and perfused with Krebs via a pulmonary artery cannula. Bronchial and pulmonary artery pressures were recorded. We investigated the effect of temperature using a heat exchanger. RESULTS: Rewarming from 17 °C to 37 °C caused a 1.3 fold increase in resting tension (p<0.05). Arteries constricted 8.6 times greater to 30 nM KCl, constricted 17 times greater to 1 nM Endothelin-1 and dilated 30.3 times greater to 100 µM SNP at 37 °C than at 17 °C (p<0.005). No difference was observed in the responses of arteries originally maintained at 37 °C compared to those arteries maintained at 17 °C and rewarmed to 37 °C. Hypothermia blunted the increase in pulmonary artery pressures to stimulants such as potassium chloride as well as to H-R but did not precondition arteries to higher pulmonary artery pressures upon re-warming. CONCLUSIONS: Deep hypothermia reduces the responsiveness of human pulmonary arteries but does not, however, precondition an exaggerated response to vasoactive agents upon re-warming.

Complex aortic surgery in a regional center in the United Kingdom. Should the United Kingdom now adopt a United States-style supercenter model?

BACKGROUND: The United States has established aortic supercenters, which have demonstrated clear improvements in the short-term and long-term outcomes after surgery on the thoracic aorta. This model of care does not exist in the United Kingdom. We have looked at our recent experience of emergency and elective thoracic aortic surgery and describe and compare our operative outcomes and 10-year survival with other regional centers and supercenters worldwide. METHODS: This was a retrospective analysis of data collected prospectively from our cardiac database on patients who underwent surgery on the thoracic aorta (n=318) between November 1999 and November 2012. The outcome measures were adjusted operative mortality, postoperative complications, and long-term survival. RESULTS: Type A dissection was carried out on 23.90% of the patients and 76.10% had surgery on the aortic root and thoracic aorta for nondissection. The mean age of the patients was 62.21±14.1 years. The mean logistic EuroSCORE was 26 in the dissection group and 19 in the nondissection group. Hospital mortality was significantly greater (P<.05) in the dissection group compared with the nondissection group (23.7% vs 12.8%). Survival after dissection and nondissection surgery was 66.3%±5.6% versus 77.4%±2.8%, respectively, at 3 years, 63.9%±5.9% versus 71.8%±3.2% at 5 years, and 53.7%±7.4% versus 47.1%±6.0% at 10 years. CONCLUSIONS: Our outcomes are comparable with other regional centers worldwide; however, they are not as good as those reported from the aortic supercenters. There should be continued impetus regarding the establishment of thoracic aortic surgery guidelines and specialist aortic centers in the United Kingdom.

Could Thoracoscore predict postoperative mortality in patients undergoing pneumonectomy?

OBJECTIVES: Thoracoscore is incorporated in the new British Thoracic Society and National Institute of Health and clinical Excellence guidelines to evaluate the operative mortality risk of patients undergoing thoracic surgery. This study examines the accuracy of Thoracoscore in predicting postoperative mortality in patients undergoing pneumonectomy. METHODS: All patients who underwent pneumonectomy from January 1998 to March 2008 were included. Thoracoscore was calculated based on the following variables: age, sex, American Society of Anaesthesiologists' class, performance status classification, dyspnoea score, priority of surgery, procedure class, Diagnosis group and comorbidities score. RESULTS: Two hundred and forty-three patients with a mean age of 63 ± 9 years were included and 81% were male. The predicted postoperative mortality based on Thoracoscore was 8 ± 2.6% (95% confidence interval (CI) 4.56-11.43), while actual in-hospital mortality was 4.5% (11/243) (95% CI 1.87-7.12). 54% (6/11) of in-hospital mortality was of those who were >70 years old and 73% (8/11) of patients who died in hospital were male. Nine of 11 (82%) patients had pneumonectomy for malignancy. Thoracoscore was divided into four risk groups: low (0-3), moderate (3.1-5), high (5.1-8) and very high (>8). It underestimated mortality in low-risk group while overestimated in high-risk groups. The 30-day, 1-year, 2-year and 3-year observed mortalities were 5.3, 29, 43 and 55%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Although advanced age, the male sex and malignancy proved to be strong predictors of in-hospital mortality in our study, Thoracoscore failed to predict accurate risk of in-hospital mortality in pneumonectomy patients in this study. Further studies are required to validate the Thoracoscore in different subgroups of thoracic surgery.

Hyperoxic vasoconstriction of human pulmonary arteries: a novel insight into acute ventricular septal defects.

Objectives. Acute rises in pulmonary artery pressures following postinfarction ventricular septal defects present a challenge. We hypothesised that the abnormally high oxygen content exposure to the pulmonary arteries may be a factor. We investigated the contractile responses of human pulmonary arteries to changes in oxygen tension. Methods. Isometric tension was measured in large and medium sized pulmonary artery rings obtained from lung resections for patients with bronchial carcinoma (n = 30). Fresh rings were mounted in organ baths bubbled under basal conditions with hyperoxic or normoxic gas mixes and the gas tensions varied during the experiment. We studied whether voltage-gated calcium channels and nitric oxide signalling had any role in responses to oxygen changes. Results. Hypoxia caused a net mean relaxation of 18.1% ± 15.5 (P < 0.005) from hyperoxia. Subsequent hyperoxia caused a contraction of 19.2% ± 13.5 (P < 0.005). Arteries maintained in normoxia responded to hyperoxia with a mean constriction of 14.8% ± 3.9 (P < 0.005). Nifedipine inhibited the vasoconstrictive response (P < 0.05) whilst L-NAME had no effect on any hypoxic vasodilatory response. Conclusions. We demonstrate that hyperoxia leads to vasoconstriction in human pulmonary arteries. The mechanism appears to be dependent on voltage-gated calcium channels. Hyperoxic vasoconstriction may contribute to acute rises in pulmonary artery pressures.

Early and late prognostic significance of remote and reversible preoperative neurological events in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting.

OBJECTIVES: Preoperative neurological event with functional impairment is high risk for operative morbidity and mortality after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). However, data regarding the influence of remote and reversible neurological events on early and late survival are lacking. METHODS: The clinical profile and operative outcome of 5542 patients who underwent first-time CABG from 01 April 1999 through 30 June 2008 were analysed. Late survival data were 100% complete. The relationship between preoperative neurological event and survival (early and late) was investigated using multivariate logistic regression and survival analyses. RESULTS: Mean age was 65.2+/-9.2 years, and 494 patients (8.9%) had remote reversible neurological events preoperatively. There were 129 (2.3%) operative and 595 (10.7%) late deaths after a mean follow-up of 4.9+/-2.7 years. Reversible neurological events had strong univariate (odds ratio (OR) 2.80, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.82-4.33, p<0.0001) and multivariate associations (OR 2.14, 95% CI 1.34-3.41, p=0.001) with operative mortality. Although reversible neurological events exhibited a powerful univariate relationship with late deaths (hazard ratio (HR) 1.66, 95% CI 1.30-2.12, p<0.0001), this was not maintained after controlling for other factors in multivariable analysis (HR 1.24, 95% CI 0.97-1.59, p=0.08). Neurological complications, more frequent in patients with preoperative events, were implicated in 25% of operative deaths in patients with preoperative neurological events. The respective 5- and 10-year survival rates for patients with reversible neurological events (86% and 68%) were substantially lower than others (91% and 80%, p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Remote reversible neurological events increase the risk of fatal and non-fatal postoperative neurological complications. Rigorous measures to improve cerebral protection are warranted in these patients.

To graft or not to graft? Do coronary artery characteristics influence early outcomes of coronary artery bypass surgery? Analysis of coronary anastomoses of 5171 patients.

OBJECTIVE: Small coronary size and extensive atherosclerosis pose operative challenges during coronary artery bypass grafting. We investigated the influence of coronary characteristics on early operative outcome. METHODS: Prospectively collected data for 5171 patients undergoing first-time coronary artery bypass grafting from April 1, 1999, to December 31, 2007, were analyzed. Coronary diameter estimated or probe-gauged intraoperatively was regarded as small if 1.25 mm or less. Coronary atherosclerosis was graded as none/mild or moderate/severe. Their influence on postoperative major adverse cardiac events, myocardial infarction or reintervention for graft failure, post-cardiotomy shock, and operative mortality, was investigated. RESULTS: Of 14,019 coronary anastomoses, 4417 coronaries (31.5%) were small and 5895 coronaries (43.4%) had moderate/severe atherosclerosis. All grafted coronaries were small in 1091 patients (21.1%). Left anterior descending, circumflex, and right coronary arteries received grafts in 94.8% of patients (n = 4903), 74.3% of patients (n = 3842), and 72.5% of patients (n = 3751), with corresponding rates of 31.7%, 31.7%, and 32.6% for small-caliber arteries, 44.4%, 33.3%, and 47.2% for moderate/severe atherosclerosis, and 0.6%, 0.5%, and 3.4% for endarterectomy. Postoperative major adverse cardiac events occurred in 236 patients (4.6%). There was no clear evidence that small caliber of half or more distal anastomoses in a patient (odds ratio, 1.36; 95% confidence interval, 0.97-1.94; P = .07) increased the risk of a major adverse cardiac event, but incomplete revascularization (odds ratio, 1.87; 95% confidence interval, 1.03-3.39; P = .04) and moderate/severe atherosclerosis of the left anterior descending artery (odds ratio 1.37; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.87; P = .04) did increase the risk. CONCLUSION: Grafting small coronaries did not significantly increase the risk of an early postoperative major adverse cardiac event, but incomplete revascularization did increase the risk. Our findings support grafting small coronaries when technically feasible to prevent incomplete revascularization.

Survival of cardiorespiratory arrest after coronary artery bypass grafting or aortic valve surgery.

BACKGROUND: Study objectives were to (1) report the clinical profile of and outcome for patients who experience a cardiorespiratory arrest after coronary artery bypass grafting or aortic valve replacement, and (2) identify factors associated with improved probability of survival. METHODS: We identified 108 consecutive patients who had cardiorespiratory arrest after coronary artery bypass grafting or aortic valve replacement between April 1999 and June 2008. We studied the characteristics of arrests and survivors, and performed a multivariate logistic analysis to determine features associated with survival to hospital discharge. RESULTS: Cardiac arrest (n = 86) was more common than respiratory arrest (n = 13; unknown cause, n = 9). Cardiorespiratory arrest occurred with decreasing frequency from the day of surgery. Ventricular fibrillation or tachycardia was the dominant mechanism of cardiac arrest (70% versus 17% for asystole versus 13% for pulseless electrical activity), and the principal causes were postoperative myocardial infarction (n = 46; 53%) and tamponade or bleeding (n = 21; 24%). Resternotomy was performed in 45 patients (52%), cardiopulmonary bypass reinstituted in 14 (16%), and additional grafts constructed in 5 (6%). The causes of respiratory arrest were mainly pulmonary (n = 8) and neurologic (n = 5). Survival to hospital discharge was better for respiratory arrest (69%) than for cardiac arrest (50%). Older age, ejection fraction less than 0.30, and postoperative myocardial infarction decreased the probability of survival. CONCLUSIONS: Ventricular fibrillation or tachycardia was the most common mechanism, and myocardial infarction, the predominant precipitating cause of cardiac arrest after coronary artery bypass grafting or aortic valve replacement. Despite aggressive resuscitation, outcome is poor. Young patients with good left ventricular function had a better probability of survival if they did not suffer a postoperative myocardial infarction.