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Purpose: We estimated the rate of unplanned hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) admissions following ambulatory surgery centre (ASC) procedures, and identified factors associated with their occurrence., Methods: This retrospective cohort included adult patients who underwent ASC procedures within a large community practice from January 2010 to December 2014. Patients were categorized into two groups: unplanned postoperative hospital/ICU admission within 24 hr of procedure or uneventful discharge. Demographics, comorbidities, anesthesia type, procedure type, procedure group, and ASC facility were assessed., Results: Of the 211,389 patients included, there were 211,147 uneventful discharges (99.89%) and 242 unplanned hospital admissions (0.11%), of which 75 were ICU admissions (0.04%). The multivariable logistic regression model for hospital admission showed an increased risk associated with age > 50 yr (odds ratio [OR], 1.53); American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status (III vs II: OR, 1.45; IV vs II: OR, 1.88), comorbidity (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: OR, 2.63; diabetes mellitus: OR, 1.62; transient ischemic attack: OR, 2.48) procedure (respiratory: OR, 2.92; digestive: OR, 2.66; musculoskeletal system: OR, 2.53), anesthetic management (general anesthesia [GA] and peripheral nerve block vs GA: OR, 1.79), and ASC facility (189BB: OR, 2.29; 30E9A: OR, 7.41; and BD21F: OR, 1.69). The multivariable logistic regression model for ICU admission showed increased risk of unplanned ICU admission associated with ASA physical status (ASA III vs II: OR, 3.0; ASA IV vs II: OR, 8.52), procedure (musculoskeletal system: OR, 2.45), and ASC facility (00E6C: OR, 3.14; 189BB: OR, 2.77; 30E9A: OR, 2.59; and BD21F: OR, 3.71)., Conclusion: While a small percentage of adult patients who underwent ASC procedures required unplanned hospital admission (0.07%), approximately one-third of these admissions were to the ICU (0.04%). Facility was at least as strong a predictor of hospital admission as the patient- and/or procedure-specific variables.

Background: Perianesthetic mortality (death occurring within 48 hours of an anesthetic) continues to vary widely depending on the study population examined. The authors study in a private practice physician group that covers multiple anesthetizing locations in the Southeastern United States. This group has in place a robust quality assurance (QA) database to follow all patients undergoing anesthesia. With this study, we estimate the incidence of anesthesia-related and perianesthetic mortality in this QA database., Methods: Following institutional review board approval, data from 2011 to 2016 were obtained from the QA database of a large, community-based anesthesiology group practice. The physician practice covers 233 anesthetizing locations across 20 facilities in 2 US states. All detected cases of perianesthetic death were extracted from the database and compared to the patients' electronic medical record. These cases were further examined by a committee of 3 anesthesiologists to determine whether the death was anesthesia related (a perioperative death solely attributable to either the anesthesia provider or anesthetic technique), anesthetic contributory (a perioperative death in which anesthesia role could not be entirely excluded), or not due to anesthesia., Results: A total of 785,467 anesthesia procedures were examined from the study period. A total of 592 cases of perianesthetic deaths were detected, giving an overall death rate of 75.37 in 100,000 cases (95% CI, 69.5-81.7). Mortality judged to be anesthesia related was found in 4 cases, giving a mortality rate of 0.509 in 100,000 (95% CI, 0.198-1.31). Mortality judged to be anesthesia contributory were found in 18 cases, giving a mortality of 2.29 in 100,000 patients (95% CI, 1.45-3.7). A total of 570 cases were judged to be nonanesthesia related, giving an incidence of 72.6 per 100,000 anesthetics (95% CI, 69.3-75.7)., Conclusions: In a large, comprehensive database representing the full range of anesthesia practices and locations in the Southeastern United States, the rate of perianesthestic death was 0.509 in 100,000 (95% CI, 0.198-1.31). Future in-depth analysis of the epidemiology of perianesthetic deaths will be reported in later studies.

Background: While continuation of β-blockers (BBs) perioperatively has become a national quality improvement measure, the relationship between BB withdrawal and mortality and cardiovascular-related critical quality indicators has not been studied in a contemporary cohort of patients undergoing noncardiac surgery., Methods: For this retrospective study, the quality assurance database of a large community-based anesthesiology group practice was used to identify 410,288 surgical cases, 18 years of age or older, who underwent elective or emergent noncardiac surgical procedures between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2014. Each surgical case that was withdrawn from BBs perioperatively was propensity matched by clinical and surgical characteristics to 4 cases that continued BBs perioperatively. Subsequently, multivariable conditional logistic regression analyses were performed in the matched cohort to determine the extent to which withdrawal of perioperative BBs was independently associated with mortality as the primary outcome and cardiovascular-related critical quality indicators as the secondary outcome (need for vasopressor, electrocardiographic changes requiring treatment, unplanned admission to intensive care unit, postanesthesia care unit stay >2 hours, and a combination of cardiac arrest and myocardial infarction) within 48 hours postoperatively., Results: Of the 66,755 (16%) cases in the cohort admitted on BB therapy, BBs were withdrawn in 3829 (6%) and continued in 62,926 (94%). Propensity score matching resulted in an analysis cohort of 19,145 cases. Withdrawal of perioperative BBs in the multivariable conditional logistic regression analysis was significantly associated with an increased risk for mortality (odds ratio [OR], 3.61; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.75-7.35; P = .0003), but a significantly decreased risk for need of blood pressure support requiring vasopressor initiation (OR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.76-0.92; P = .0003) and extended postanesthesia care unit stay (OR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.54-0.88; P = .004) within 48 hours after noncardiac surgery., Conclusions: Perioperative withdrawal of BBs was associated with increased risk for mortality within 48 hours after noncardiac surgery and with decreased risk for need of vasopressor during the early postoperative period and a shorter stay in the postanesthesia care unit.

Background: When tracheal intubation is difficult or unachievable before surgery or during an emergent resuscitation, this is a critical safety event. Consensus algorithms and airway devices have been introduced in hopes of reducing such occurrences. However, evidence of improved safety in clinical practice related to their introduction is lacking. Therefore, we selected a large perioperative database spanning 2002 to 2015 to look for changes in annual rates of difficult and failed tracheal intubation., Methods: Difficult (more than three attempts) and failed (unsuccessful, requiring awakening or surgical tracheostomy) intubation rates in patients 18 yr and older were compared between the early and late periods (pre- vs. post-January 2009) and by annual rate join-point analysis. Primary findings from a large, urban hospital were compared with combined observations from 15 smaller facilities., Results: Analysis of 421,581 procedures identified fourfold reductions in both event rates between the early and late periods (difficult: 6.6 of 1,000 vs. 1.6 of 1,000, P < 0.0001; failed: 0.2 of 1,000 vs. 0.06 of 1,000, P < 0.0001), with join-point analysis identifying two significant change points (2006, P = 0.02; 2010, P = 0.03) including a pre-2006 stable period, a steep drop between 2006 and 2010, and gradual decline after 2010. Data from 15 affiliated practices (442,428 procedures) demonstrated similar reductions., Conclusions: In this retrospective assessment spanning 14 yr (2002 to 2015), difficult and failed intubation rates by skilled providers declined significantly at both an urban hospital and a network of smaller affiliated practices. Further investigations are required to validate these findings in other data sets and more clearly identify factors associated with their occurrence as clues to future airway management advancements., Visual Abstract: An online visual overview is available for this article at http://links.lww.com/ALN/B635.

The records of 150 consecutive patients undergoing thoracoabdominal aortic replacement from 1980 to 1991 were retrospectively reviewed. There were 89 men and 61 women; mean age was 67.8 years (range: 33 to 88 years). Since June 1989, a multimodality prospective perioperative protocol was used to reduce the risk of spinal cord dysfunction. Ischemia is minimized by complete intercostal reimplantation whenever possible, cerebrospinal fluid drainage, and maintenance of proximal hypertension during cross-clamping. Spinal cord metabolism is reduced by moderate hypothermia, high-dose barbiturates, and avoidance of hyperglycemia. Reperfusion injury is minimized by the use of mannitol, steroids, and calcium channel blockers. Ninety-seven percent of patients survived long enough for evaluation of their neurologic function. Spinal cord dysfunction was reduced from 6 of 108 (6%) in the preprotocol group to 0 of 42 in the protocol group (0%) (p less than 0.01). The overall 30-day operative mortality was not significantly different between the groups (9% versus 12%, p = NS). A multimodality protocol appears to be effective in reducing the risk of spinal cord injury during thoracoabdominal aortic replacement.

Present methods used to assess the status of myocardial preservation during cardioplegic arrest include monitoring the peripheral electrocardiogram (ECG) and ventricular myocardial temperature, and visual inspection of the heart to verify complete mechanical arrest. This study was designed to determine if these parameters are adequate to ensure complete electromechanical arrest after the application of standard cardioplegic techniques. The electrical status of the ventricle in adult mongrel dogs was monitored continuously during elective hyperkalemic hypothermic arrest for the presence of electrical activity in either the atrium or ventricle with 25 intramural electrodes, three epicardial reference electrodes, a His bundle catheter, and three peripheral ECGs. Occurrence of ventricular electrical activity was documented in the arrested heart (determined visually) when the peripheral ECG was quiescent; the activity persisted for a significant period of time before electromechanical activity could be detected by standard monitoring techniques. This electrical activity is believed to originate in the lower atrial septum and to conduct through the AV node to the ventricles at myocardial temperatures previously thought to be safe. Thus, continuous monitoring of intramural electrical activity would appear to be a more reliable technique than those currently used to determine the adequacy of myocardial preservation during elective cardioplegic arrest.

Atrioventricular conduction abnormalities have become more frequent since the reintroduction of cardioplegic techniques for myocardial preservation during cardiac surgery. An animal model was developed to clarify the role of atrial septal hypothermia in the preservation of the primary site of postoperative conduction delay, the AV node. In our study, 10 animals served as the control group. They were subjected to 40 min of cardioplegic arrest during which the heart was protected with multidose cold potassium cardioplegia. Atrial septal temperatures averaged 27.4 degrees +/- 1.2 degrees C during cardioplegic arrest. We treated 10 additional animals (study group) similarly, except that atrial hypothermia was augmented by intracavitary or specialized topical techniques, which resulted in an average atrial septal temperature of 20.8 degrees +/- 3.3 degrees C (p less than .05). Detailed electrophysiologic studies of both groups were performed at 37 degrees C before and after cardioplegic arrest. Significant prolongation of AV nodal, and to a lesser extent His-Purkinje, conduction times was noted in the control group, but no conduction abnormalities occurred in the study group receiving augmented atrial hypothermia. Thus, conduction block in the specialized conduction system after cardioplegic arrest appears to be related to the adequacy of hypothermic preservation of the atrial septum and can be prevented by augmented atrial hypothermia.

The original description of the Blalock-Taussig shunt was published in 1945 and represented the first direct surgical procedure for the treatment of cyanotic congenital heart disease. The present study analyzes the results of Blalock-Taussig shunts performed at Duke University Medical Center during the fourth decade since the original description of the procedure. From 1975 to 1984, 53 classic and 24 modified Blalock-Taussig shunts were performed with a hospital mortality of 8%. These deaths occurred in critically ill patients with either pulmonary atresia or complex congenital cardiac lesions. The results of the early group (1975-1979) were compared to the late group (1980-1984) of patients. There was a greater proportion of infants less than 1 week of age in the late group, and the actuarial event-free shunt survival following operation was significantly better in the late group. This improvement in the late group was apparent both in patients receiving classic and modified Blalock-Taussig shunts and probably represents the effects of advances in microsurgical technique as well as improvement in the support of critically ill infants at the time of surgery by pediatric anesthesiologists and neonatologists. The data in the present study indicate that the mortality associated with Blalock-Taussig shunting is related to the condition of the patient at the time of surgery and the underlying cardiac pathology rather than the age of the patient at the time of shunting. The efforts to further reduce morbidity and mortality associated with Blalock-Taussig shunting should therefore be directed primarily to the support of infants during the preoperative and intraoperative phases of care.

The addition of calcium channel-blocking agents to a standard hyperkalemic hypothermic cardioplegic solution has been examined both experimentally and clinically. None of these studies, however, have investigated the effect of calcium blockade during cardioplegic arrest on the specialized cardiac conduction tissues and on the subsequent development of arrhythmias after arrest. The present study examined the effect of adding nifedipine to standard cardioplegic solution administered in a canine experimental preparation modeled on routine clinical techniques. The time to and duration of electrical arrest following the administration of cardioplegia and the functional electrophysiological variables before and after arrest were measured using a 32-channel data acquisition system. The addition of nifedipine shortened the time to electrical arrest and prolonged the duration of arrest compared with standard potassium cardioplegic solution alone, without a deleterious effect on conduction function immediately after arrest. The occurrence of low-amplitude electrical activity (LEA) in both atria and ventricles during arrest was significantly reduced by the addition of nifedipine, thereby suggesting a possible correlation between LEA and calcium-mediated conduction occurring under conditions of standard cardioplegic arrest.