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BACKGROUND Scarce data exist on patients with previous left valve surgery (PLVS) undergoing transcatheter tricuspid valve intervention (TTVI). This study sought to investigate the procedural and early outcomes in patients with PLVS undergoing TTVI. METHODS This was a subanalysis of the multicenter TriValve registry including 462 patients, 82 (18%) with PLVS. Data were analyzed according to the presence of PLVS in the overall cohort and in a propensity score-matched population including 51 and 115 patients with and without PLVS, respectively. RESULTS Patients with PLVS were younger (72 �� 10 vs 78 �� 9 years; p < 0.01) and more frequently female (67.1% vs 53.2%; P��= 0.02). Similar rates of procedural success (PLVS 80.5%; no-PLVS 82.1%; P��= 0.73), and 30-day mortality (PLVS 2.4%, no-PLVS 3.4%; P��= 0.99) were observed. After matching, there were no significant differences in both all-cause rehospitalisation (PLVS 21.1%, no-PLVS 26.5%; P��= 0.60) and all-cause mortality (PLVS 9.8%, no-PLVS 6.7%; P��= 0.58). At last follow-up (median 6 [interquartile range 1-12] months after the procedure), most patients (81.8%) in the PLVS group were in NYHA functional class I-II (P��= 0.12 vs no-PLVS group), and TR grade was ��� 2 in 82.6% of patients (P��= 0.096 vs no-PVLS group). A poorer right ventricular function and previous heart failure hospitalization determined increased risks of procedural failure and poorer outcomes at follow-up, respectively. CONCLUSIONS In patients with PLVS, TTVI was associated with high rates of procedural success and low early mortality. However, about one-third of patients required rehospitalisation or died at midterm follow-up. These results would support TTVI as a reasonable alternative to redo surgery in patients with PLVS and suggest the importance of earlier treatment to improve clinical outcomes.

Background: Knowledge about the association between frailty and self-reported health among patients undergoing heart valve surgery remains sparse. Thus, the objectives were to I) describe changes in self-reported health at different time points according to frailty status, and to II) investigate the association between frailty status at discharge and poor self-reported health four weeks after discharge among patients undergoing heart valve surgery. Methods: In a prospective cohort study, consecutive patients undergoing heart valve surgery, including transapical/transaortic valve procedures were included. Frailty was measured using the Fried score, and self-reported health using the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) and the EuroQoL-5 Dimensions 5-Levels Health Status Questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L). To investigate the association between frailty and self-reported health, multivariable logistic regression models were used. Analyses were adjusted for sex, age, surgical risk evaluation (EuroScore) and procedure and presented as odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: Frailty was assessed at discharge in 288 patients (median age 71, 69% men); 51 patients (18%) were frail. In the multivariable analyses, frailty at discharge remained significantly associated with poor self-reported health at four weeks, OR (95% CI): EQ-5D-5L Index 3.38 (1.51-7.52), VAS 2.41 (1.13-5.14), and KCCQ 2.84 (1.35-5.97). Conclusion: Frailty is present at discharge in 18% of patients undergoing heart valve surgery, and being frail is associated with poor self-reported health at four weeks of follow-up. This supports a clinical need to address the unique risk of frail patients among heart valve teams broadly, and not only to measure frailty as a marker of operative risk. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Background: there is little known about how payer status impacts clinical outcomes in a universal single-payer system such as the UK National Health Service (NHS). The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between payer status (private or public) and clinical outcomes following cardiac surgery from NHS providers in England. Methods: the National Adult Cardiac Surgery Audit (NACSA) registry was interrogated for patients who underwent adult cardiac surgery in England from 2009 to 2018. Information on socioeconomic status were provided by linkage with the Iteration of the English Indices of Deprivation (IoD). The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes included incidence of in-hospital postoperative cerebrovascular accident (CVA), renal dialysis, sternal wound infection, and re-exploration. To assess whether payer status was an independent predictor of in-hospital mortality, binomial generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) were fitted along with 17 items forming the EuroSCORE and the IoD domains. Findings: the final sample consisted of 280,209 patients who underwent surgery in 31 NHS hospitals in England from 2009 to 2018. Of them, 5,967 (2.1%) and 274,242 (97.9%) were private and NHS payers respectively. Private payer status was associated with a lower risk of in-hospital mortality (OR 0.79; 95%CI 0.65 – 0.97;P = 0.026), CVA (OR 0.77; 95%CI 0.60 – 0.99; P = 0.039), need for re-exploration (OR 0.84; 95%CI 0.72 – 0.97; P = 0.017) and with non-significant lower risk of dialysis (OR 0.84; 95%CI 0.69 – 1.02; P = 0.074). Private payer status was found to be independently associated with lower risk of in-hospital mortality in the elective subgroup (OR 0.76; 95%CI 0.61 – 0.96; P = 0.020) but not in the non-elective subgroup (OR 1.01; 95%CI 0.64 – 1.58; P = 0.976). Interpretation: In conclusion, using a national database, we have found evidence of significant beneficial effect of payer status on hospital outcomes following cardiac surgery in favour of private payers regardless their socioeconomic factors.

Backgrounds: The relative apical sparing pattern (RASP) of left ventricular (LV) longitudinal strain (LS) is frequently associated with cardiac amyloidosis. Elderly patients with aortic valve stenosis (AS) complicated by transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy have poor prognosis. Furthermore, deteriorated basal LS in AS patients has been reported to be associated with adverse outcome. We investigated the association between RASP and outcomes in patients with severe AS. Methods: We retrospectively studied 156 consecutive patients with severe AS and preserved LV ejection fraction. RASP was assessed by both of semi-quantitative (sRASP) and quantitative (qRASP) methods. sRASP was defined as a deterioration of LS (≥-10%) in ≥ 5 (of 6) basal segments, relative to preserved LS (

Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify the risk factors associated with early mortality after postcardiotomy venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Methods: This is an analysis of the postcardiotomy extracorporeal membrane oxygenation registry, a retrospective multicenter cohort study including 781 patients aged more than 18 years who required venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for cardiopulmonary failure after cardiac surgery from 2010 to 2018 at 19 cardiac surgery centers. Results: After a mean venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation therapy of 6.9 ± 6.2 days, hospital and 1–year mortality were 64.4% and 67.2%, respectively. Hospital mortality after venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation therapy for more than 7 days was 60.5% (P = 0.105). Centers that had treated more than 50 patients with postcardiotomy venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation had a significantly lower hospital mortality than lower–volume centers (60.7% vs 70.7%, adjusted odds ratio, 0.58; 95% confidence interval, 0.41–0.82). The postcardiotomy extracorporeal membrane oxygenation score was derived by assigning a weighted integer to each independent pre–venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation predictors of hospital mortality as follows: female gender (1 point), advanced age (60–69 years, 2 points; ≥70 years, 4 points), prior cardiac surgery (1 point), arterial lactate 6.0 mmol/L or greater before venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (2 points), aortic arch surgery (4 points), and preoperative stroke/unconsciousness (5 points). The hospital mortality rates according to the postcardiotomy extracorporeal membrane oxygenation score was 0 point, 45.6%; 1 point, 40.5%; 2 points, 51.1%; 3 points, 57.8%; 4 points, 70.7%; 5 points, 68.3%; 6 points, 77.5%; and 7 points or more, 89.7% (P < 0.0001). Conclusions: Age, female gender, prior cardiac surgery, preoperative acute neurologic events, aortic arch surgery, and increased arterial lactate were associated with increased risk of early mortality after postcardiotomy venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Center experience with postcardiotomy venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation may contribute to improved results. PC-ECMO Study Group Collaborators of the PC-ECMO Study Group: Kristiina Pälve, MD, PhD, Vesa Anttila, MD, PhD, MD, Thomas Fux, MD, PhD, Gilles Amr, MD, Nikolaos Kalampokas, MD, Artur Lichtenberg, MD, Anders Jeppsson, MD, PhD, Marco Gabrielli, MD, Daniel Reichart, MD, Sidney Chocron, MD, PhD, Mariafrancesca Fiorentino, MD, Ugolino Livi, MD, Ivan Netuka, MD, Dieter De Keyzer, MD, Krister Mogianos, MD, Zein El Dean, MRCS, LLM, Angelo M. Dell’Aquila, MD, Nicla Settembre, MD, PhD, and Stefano Rosato, MSc.

OBJECTIVES There are limited data comparing long-term outcomes of coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stents (DES) in patients with high surgical risk. We evaluated 5-year outcomes following CABG versus PCI with DES in 598 patients with left main or multivessel coronary artery disease (CAD) and a high surgical risk [EuroSCORE (European system for cardiac operative risk evaluation) ≥ 6]. METHODS Databases were merged from the BEST, PRECOMBAT and SYNTAX trials. The primary outcome was a major adverse cardio-cerebral event (MACCE), defined as the composite of all-cause death, myocardial infarction, stroke or repeat revascularization. RESULTS During 5-year follow-up, the rates of MACCE were 29.4% in the CABG group and 43.8% in the PCI group [hazard ratio (HR), 0.64; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.49 - 0.84; P = 0.001]. The MACCE was significantly better with CABG than with PCI in patients with high and intermediate SYNTAX scores (34.9% vs 46.3%, P = 0.039, and 29.7% vs 47.6%, P = 0.010, respectively), but comparable between the two groups in those with low SYNTAX scores. The rates of all-cause death and stroke were similar between the two groups. However, CABG was associated with fewer myocardial infarctions (HR, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.27 - 0.93; P = 0.027) and repeat revascularizations (HR, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.20 - 0.52; P

cited By 3; International audience; Objective: To compare the clinical outcomes and direct costs at 5 years between transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) and surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) using real-world evidence. Methods: We performed a nationwide longitudinal study using data from the French Hospital Information System from 2009 to 2015. We matched, inside hospitals, 2 cohorts of adults who underwent TAVI or SAVR during 2010 on propensity score based on patient characteristics. Outcomes analysis included mortality, morbidity, and total costs and with a maximum 60-month follow-up. Clinical outcomes were compared between cohorts using hazard ratios (HRs) estimated from a Cox proportional hazards model for all-cause death, and from Fine and Gray's competing risk model for morbidity. Results: Based on a cohort of 1598 patients (799 in each group) from 27 centers, a higher risk of death was observed after 1 year with TAVI compared with SAVR (16.8% vs 12.8%, respectively; HR, 1.33; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02-1.72) and was sustained up to 5 years (52.4% vs 37.2%; HR, 1.56; 95% CI, 1.33-1.84). At 5 years, the risk of stroke was increased (HR, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.07-2.54) as was myocardial infarction (HR, 2.30; 95% CI, 1.12-4.69) and pacemaker implantation (HR, 2.40; 95% CI, 1.81-3.17) after TAVI. The hospitalization costs per patient at 5 years were €69,083 after TAVI and €55,687 after SAVR (P

Objective: To analyze long-term survival and predictors of mortality in patients evaluated for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) depending on the decision taken by the heart team. Methods: All patients with severe aortic stenosis and high surgical risk evaluated for TAVI between June 2008 and June 2012 were included. Patients were grouped according to the therapeutic strategy decided by the heart team. Mean follow-up was 16.6 months (maximum 55.3). Results: A total of 149 patients were evaluated: 79 were accepted for TAVI, 12 had no current indication for valve replacement and were deferred, 13 were redirected to conventional surgery and 45 received medical treatment. The evaluated patients had a mean age of 83.7 years and a mean EuroSCORE of 19.8±12.3. Median survival free from all-cause death was 34.7 months (95% CI 27.1–42.3) in the TAVI group, 47.4 months (95% CI 0–97.4) in the deferred intervention group, not available in the surgery group and 8.2 months (95% CI 5.6–10.9) in the medical treatment group (log-rank p

Introduction and Aim: Isolated aortic valve replacement (AVR) in octogenarians is associated with increased operative risk, due to higher prevalence of associated risk factors and other comorbidities, making outcome prediction essential. We sought to analyze operative mortality and morbidity and to compare the predictive accuracy of the logistic European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation score (EuroSCORE) I, EuroSCORE II and Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) score in this population. Methods: We retrospectively enrolled 106 consecutive octogenarians with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis undergoing isolated AVR in a large-volume single center between January 2003 and December 2010 and calculated surgical risk scores. Results: Mean logistic EuroSCORE I, EuroSCORE II and STS score were 14.6±11, 4.4±3.1 and 4.0±2.4%, respectively. Mean operative mortality was 5.7% (six patients). Two (1.9%) patients suffered an ischemic stroke, three (2.8%) required temporary hemodialysis and five (4.7%) had a permanent pacemaker implanted. Five (4.7%) required rethoracotomy. No myocardial infarction or sternal wound infection was observed. Calibration-in-the-large showed overestimation of operative mortality with logistic EuroSCORE I (p=0.036), whereas EuroSCORE II (p=1.0) and STS (p=1.0) showed good calibration. C-statistic values were 0.877 (95% CI 0.800–0.933) for logistic EuroSCORE I, 0.792 (95% CI 0.702–0.864) for EuroSCORE II and 0.702 (95% CI 0.605–0.787) for STS, without statistically significant differences. Conclusions: These results suggest that AVR can be performed safely in selected octogenarians. EuroSCORE II and STS demonstrated superior calibration and should be the preferred tools for risk assessment, at least for this population. Resumo: Introdução e objetivos: A cirurgia de substituição valvular aórtica (SVA) envolve um risco acrescido em octogenários, pela elevada prevalência de fatores de risco e comorbilidades, tornando essencial a predição de resultados. Pretendemos analisar a mortalidade operatória e comparar as capacidades preditivas do European System for Cardiac Operative Mortality (EuroSCORE) I, EuroSCORE II e o Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) score nesta população. Métodos: Analisámos retrospetivamente 106 octogenários com estenose aórtica grave sintomática, submetidos a SVA isolada num centro terciário, entre janeiro de 2003 e dezembro de 2010. Resultados: O EuroSCORE I logístico, o EuroSCORE II e o STS score médios foram 14,6±11, 4,4±3,1 e 4,0±2,4%, respetivamente. A mortalidade operatória foi 5,7% (seis doentes). Registámos como complicações dois (1,9%) acidentes vasculares cerebrais isquémicos, hemodiálise transitória em três doentes (2,8%) e cinco (4,7%) implantes de pacemaker definitivo. Cinco doentes (4,7%) requereram revisão da hemostase. Não se verificaram enfarte agudo do miocárdio ou infeção do esterno. O EuroSCORE I logístico sobreestimou a mortalidade (p=0,036), enquanto o EuroSCORE II (p=1,0) e o STS (p=1,0) score mostraram boa calibração. A area sob a curva foi de 0,877 (CI 95% 0,800-0,933) para o EuroSCORE I logístico, 0,792 (CI 95% 0,702-0,864) para o EuroSCORE II e 0,702 (CI 95% 0,605-0,787) para o STS score (p=ns para comparações). Conclusões: Estes resultados sugerem que a SVA pode ser realizada com morbi-mortalidade aceitável em octogenários selecionados. O EuroSCORE II e o STS score demonstraram melhor calibração e devem ser as métricas preferidas na avaliação do risco operatório desta população. Keywords: Aortic valve surgery, Aortic stenosis, Octogenarians, Risk assessment, EuroSCORE, STS score, Palavras-chave: Cirurgia valvular aórtica, Estenose aórtica, Octogenários, Avaliação do risco, EuroSCORE, STS score

JUSTIFICATIVA E OBJETIVOS: A estenose aórtica (EA) grave é uma doença prevalente e de grande mortalidade. Nos pacientes idosos com outras comorbidades o implante valvar percutâneo é uma opção. OBJETIVOS: Descrever o manejo anestésico e as complicações com anestesia geral. MÉTODO: Série de casos com seguimento de 30 dias e 24 meses após o implante do dispositivo CoreValve feito no Instituto de Cardiologia/Fundação Universitária de Cardiologia entre dezembro de 2008 e janeiro de 2012. Os pacientes foram submetidos à anestesia geral monitorada com pressão arterial média (PAM), eletrocardiograma (ECG), oximetria, capnografia, ecocardiograma transesofágico, termometria e marcapasso transvenoso. RESULTADOS: Foram submetidos com sucesso ao implante valvular 28 pacientes, com idade média de 82,46 anos, EuroScore médio de 20,98%, classe funcional III/IV. Nove pacientes necessitaram de implante de marcapasso definitivo. No seguimento dos pacientes houve dois óbitos, um no transoperatório por perfuração do VE e um no terceiro dia por causa desconhecida. Em 24 meses um paciente faleceu com diagnóstico de mieloma múltiplo. A técnica anestésica mostrou-se segura. CONCLUSÃO: A experiência inicial com implante valvular aórtico percutâneo sob anestesia geral tem se mostrado segura e eficaz sem complicações anestésicas importantes para esse procedimento. BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Aortic stenosis is a highly prevalent and life-threatening disease. In elderly patients with comorbidities, percutaneous valve implantation is an option. The aim of the study was to describe the anesthetic management and complications of general anesthesia. METHOD: Case series with 30-day and 24-month follow-ups after implantation of the CoreValve device performed at the Institute of Cardiology/University Foundation of Cardiology between December 2008 and January 2012. The patients underwent general anesthesia monitored with mean arterial pressure (PAM), electrocardiogram (ECG), pulse oximetry, capnography, transesophageal echocardiography, thermometry, and transvenous pacemaker. RESULTS: Twenty-eight patients, mean age 82.46 years, 20.98% mean EuroSCORE, functional class III/IV, successfully underwent valve implantation. Nine patients required permanent pacemaker implantation. During follow-up, two patients died: one during surgery due to LV perforation and the other on the third day of unknown causes. At 24 months, one patient diagnosed with multiple myeloma died. This anesthetic technique proved to be safe. CONCLUSION: The initial experience with percutaneous aortic valve implantation under general anesthesia has proven to be safe and effective, with no significant anesthetic complications during this procedure. JUSTIFICATIVA Y OBJETIVOS: La estenosis aórtica (EA) grave es una enfermedad prevalente y de gran mortalidad. En los pacientes ancianos con otras comorbilidades, el implante valvular percutáneo es una opción. OBJETIVOS: Describir el manejo anestésico y las complicaciones con la anestesia general. MÉTODO: Serie de casos con seguimiento de 30 días y 24 meses después del implante del dispositivo CoreValve hecho en el Instituto de Cardiología/Fundación Universitaria de Cardiología entre diciembre de 2008 y enero de 2012. Los pacientes fueron sometidos a la anestesia general monitorizada con una presión arterial promedio (PAP), electrocardiograma (ECG), oximetría, capnografía, ecocardiograma transesofágico, termometría y marcapaso transvenoso. RESULTADOS: Fueron sometidos con éxito al implante valvular 28 pacientes, con una edad promedio de 82,46 años, EuroScore medio de 20,98%, clase funcional III/IV. Nueve pacientes necesitaron implante de marcapaso definitivo. En el seguimiento de los pacientes hubo dos decesos, uno en el transoperatorio por perforación del VI y uno al tercer día por causa desconocida. En 24 meses un paciente falleció con diagnóstico de mieloma múltiple. La técnica anestésica fue segura. CONCLUSIONES: La experiencia inicial con implante valvular aórtico percutáneo bajo anestesia general ha sido segura y eficaz sin complicaciones anestésicas importantes para ese procedimiento.

Background\ud The performance of emerging transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) clinical prediction models (CPMs) in national TAVI cohorts distinct from those where they have been derived is unknown. This study aimed to investigate the performance of the German Aortic Valve, FRANCE-2, OBSERVANT and American College of Cardiology (ACC) TAVI CPMs compared with the performance of historic cardiac CPMs such as the EuroSCORE and STS-PROM, in a large national TAVI registry.\ud \ud Methods\ud The calibration and discrimination of each CPM were analyzed in 6676 patients from the UK TAVI registry, as a whole cohort and across several subgroups. Strata included gender, diabetes status, access route, and valve type. Furthermore, the amount of agreement in risk classification between each of the considered CPMs was analyzed at an individual patient level.\ud \ud Results\ud The observed 30-day mortality rate was 5.4%. In the whole cohort, the majority of CPMs over-estimated the risk of 30-day mortality, although the mean ACC score (5.2%) approximately matched the observed mortality rate. The areas under ROC curve were between 0.57 for OBSERVANT and 0.64 for ACC. Risk classification agreement was low across all models, with Fleiss's kappa values between 0.17 and 0.50.\ud \ud Conclusions\ud Although the FRANCE-2 and ACC models outperformed all other CPMs, the performance of current TAVI-CPMs was low when applied to an independent cohort of TAVI patients. Hence, TAVI specific CPMs need to be derived outside populations previously used for model derivation, either by adapting existing CPMs or developing new risk scores in large national registries.

Introduction: Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is an alternative to surgical aortic valve replacement in patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) and unacceptably high surgical risk. Methods: We present our first two years’ experience with TAVI. A total of 76 AS patients were evaluated for TAVI and 23 of them underwent a TAVI procedure. These patients had a mean EuroSCORE of 22.4% and a mean age of 81.5 years, and were prospectively followed for a mean of 12.9±11 months. Results: The percutaneous aortic valve was successfully implanted in 100% of the patients. Mortality at 30 days was 4%. The most common complications were access site-related bleeding and transfusion (22%), followed by new permanent pacemaker implantation (9%). After a mean follow-up of 12.9 months, survival was 87%. In a maximum follow-up of 30 months there were no cases of prosthesis dysfunction or cardiovascular death. Conclusions: Two years after the introduction of a TAVI program in our center, the procedure has established itself as a safe and effective alternative for patients with severe AS and unacceptably high surgical risk. Resumo: Introdução: A implantação da válvula aórtica transcateter (TAVI) é uma alternativa à substituição valvular aórtica cirúrgica convencional para doentes com estenose aórtica (EA) grave e risco cirúrgico inaceitável. Métodos: Apresentamos a experiência com TAVI no nosso centro durante os primeiros anos, desde o seu início. De 76 doentes com EA avaliados para eventual TAVI, realizou-se o procedimento em 23 dos mesmos, que apresentavam um Euroscore médio de 22,4% e uma idade média de 81,5 anos. Estes 23 doentes foram seguidos de modo prospectivo durante 12,9±11 meses. Resultados: A prótese foi implantada com êxito em todos os doentes. A mortalidade aos 30 dias foi de 4%. As complicações mais frequentes foram as vasculares e a necessidade de transfusão (22%) seguida de colocação de pace-maker definitivo (9%). Após um follow-up médio de 30 meses não se registou nenhum caso de disfunção protésica nem de morte cardiovascular. Conclusões: Dois anos após o início de um programa de TAVI no nosso centro, a TAVI evidencia-se como uma alternativa eficaz para doentes com EA grave inoperáveis por risco cirúrgico elevado. Keywords: Aortic valve stenosis, Heart valve prosthesis, Transcatheter aortic valve implantation, Non-coronary intervention, Aortic valve replacement, Palavras-chave: Estenose aórtica grave, Prótese valvular cardíaca, Prótese aórtica transcateter, Intervenção cardíaca não coronária, Substituição valvular aórtica

To examine whether preoperative biomedical risk and depressive symptoms were associated with physical and mental components of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients 1year after cardiac surgery.Seventy-five patients completed a psychological evaluation, including the Center for Epidemiological Study of Depression scale, the 12-item Short-Form Physical Component Scale (SF-12-PCS) and Mental Component Scale (SF-12-MCS), the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living questionnaire for depressive symptoms and HRQoL, respectively, before surgery and at 1-year follow-up.Preoperative depressive symptoms predicted the SF-12-PCS (beta=-.22, P.05) and SF-12-MCS (beta=-.30, P.04) scores in patients 1year after cardiac surgery, whereas the European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation was associated with SF-12-PCS (beta=-.28, P.02), but not SF-12-MCS (beta=.01, P=.97) scores postoperatively.The current findings showed that preoperative depressive symptoms are associated with poor physical and mental components of HRQoL, whereas high biomedical risk predicts reduced physical, but not mental, functioning in patients postoperatively. This study suggests that a preoperative assessment of depressive symptoms in addition to the evaluation of common biomedical risk factors is essential to anticipate which patients are likely to show poor HRQoL after cardiac surgery.

Objective: We retrospectively investigated the short and mid-term outcome of non-emergent primary isolated coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery in relation to risk stratification in the fully equipped university location (FE) and the low volume, limited facility location (LVLF) of our department. Methods: Between September 1995 and December 1996, 832 patients were referred to our department to undergo a primary isolated CABG operation. The surgical team selected 482 patients (58%) as being at low-risk. These were treated in the LVLF hospital. The other 350 patients with mixed-risk were treated in the FE hospital. The selection consisted primarily of exclusion of patients with moderate or poor left ventricular function, severe COPD or renal impairment, from surgery in the LVLF location. Finally, the prognostic value of the EuroSCORE and the Parsonnet score was tested on our patient population. Results: Overall in-hospital mortality was 1.6% (13 patients). One patient died in the LVLF group (0.2%) and 12 patients (3.4%) in the FE group. LVLF patients experienced less complications during the hospital period compared to the FE patients (5 versus 21%; P ¼ 0:0001). The Parsonnet risk model and the EuroSCORE risk model showed both a good relation with in-hospital mortality. After discharge, an increased risk of late mortality was observed up to 1 year postoperative in the FE group compared to the LVLF group (2.7 versus 0.5%; P ¼ 0:01). Risk factors for 5-year mortality were pre-operative renal impairment (blood creatinine .150 mmol/l) (hazard ratio (HR): 2.8; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.4‐5.5), diabetes (HR: 2.1; 95% CI: 1.3‐3.5), impaired LVEF (HR: 1.9; 95% CI: 1.2‐3.0), COPD (HR: 1.9; 95% CI: 1.1‐3.5) and older age (HR: 1.07 per year; 95% CI: 1.01‐ 1.10). Lipid-lowering therapy was a predictor of lower mortality at 5-years (HR: 0.5; 95% CI: 0.4‐0.9). Conclusion: By careful decision making, selection of low-risk patients for a low volume and limited facility location resulted in excellent in-hospital survival with very low complication rates. q 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.