Cardiac index-guided therapy to maintain optimised postinduction cardiac index in high-risk patients having major open abdominal surgery: the multicentre randomised iPEGASUS trial.

BACKGROUND: It is unclear whether optimising intraoperative cardiac index can reduce postoperative complications. We tested the hypothesis that maintaining optimised postinduction cardiac index during and for the first 8 h after surgery reduces the incidence of a composite outcome of complications within 28 days after surgery compared with routine care in high-risk patients having elective major open abdominal surgery. METHODS: In three German and two Spanish centres, high-risk patients having elective major open abdominal surgery were randomised to cardiac index-guided therapy to maintain optimised postinduction cardiac index (cardiac index at which pulse pressure variation was <12%) during and for the first 8 h after surgery using intravenous fluids and dobutamine or to routine care. The primary outcome was the incidence of a composite outcome of moderate or severe complications within 28 days after surgery. RESULTS: We analysed 318 of 380 enrolled subjects. The composite primary outcome occurred in 84 of 152 subjects (55%) assigned to cardiac index-guided therapy and in 77 of 166 subjects (46%) assigned to routine care (odds ratio: 1.87, 95% confidence interval: 1.03-3.39, P=0.038). Per-protocol analyses confirmed the results of the primary outcome analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Maintaining optimised postinduction cardiac index during and for the first 8 h after surgery did not reduce, and possibly increased, the incidence of a composite outcome of complications within 28 days after surgery compared with routine care in high-risk patients having elective major open abdominal surgery. Clinicians should not strive to maintain optimised postinduction cardiac index during and after surgery in expectation of reducing complications. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT03021525.

[Anemia as a surgical risk factor]. / La anemia como factor de riesgo quirúrgico.

Perioperative anemia is common in patients undergoing surgery and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality and a decreased quality of life. The main causes of anemia in the perioperative context are iron deficiency and chronic inflammation. Anemia can be aggravated by blood loss during surgery, and is most commonly treated with allogeneic transfusion. Moreover, blood transfusions are not without risks, once again increasing patient morbidity and mortality. Given these concerns, we propose to review the pathophysiology of anemia in the surgical environment, as well as its treatment through the consumption of iron-rich foods and by oral or intravenous iron therapy (iron sucrose and iron carboxymaltose). In chronic inflammatory anemia, we use erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (erythropoietin alpha) and, in cases of mixed anemia, the combination of both treatments. The objective is always to reduce the need for perioperative transfusions and speed the recovery from postoperative anemia, as well as decrease the patient morbidity and mortality rate.