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Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is the most widely performed cardiac surgery in the United States. Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is frequently used in a variety of cardiac surgical procedures, but its clinical benefit in isolated CABG surgery is unclear, and guidelines remain indeterminate. The aim of this study was to compare clinical outcomes among patients undergoing isolated CABG surgery with versus without TEE in order to test the hypothesis that TEE would be associated with improved clinical outcomes after CABG surgery.A matched retrospective cohort study was conducted among Medicare beneficiaries undergoing isolated CABG surgery with versus without intraoperative monitoring using TEE in the United States. The primary analysis was a near/far instrumental variable match that paired hospitals with similar characteristics and patient populations but with opposing probabilities for using TEE in CABG surgery. Outcomes included 30-day mortality, a composite outcome of stroke or 30-day mortality, length of hospitalization, and incidence of esophageal perforation.Of 114,871 patients undergoing isolated CABG surgery, 65,471 (57%) underwent TEE and 49,400 (43%) did not. Hospital-level instrumental variable matched analysis demonstrated that among the subset of 968 matched hospitals, TEE receipt was associated with lower 30-day mortality (3.7% vs 4.9%, P .001), a lower incidence of the composite outcome of stroke or 30-day mortality (4.5% vs 5.6%, P .001), no difference in length of hospitalization (10.32 vs 10.52 days, P = .26), and no difference in the incidence of esophageal perforation (0.01% vs 0.01%, P = .63). These results were replicated in surgeon-level and patient-level matched-pair instrumental variable analyses, and all analyses were robust to sensitivity analyses that tested for biases introduced by unmeasured confounding.The findings from this study suggest that TEE may offer a clinical benefit to cardiac surgical patients undergoing isolated CABG surgery.

This dataset contains individual subject data for microcirculatory parameters assessed in the present study. Demographic and macrocirculatory parameters are not included at this time due to the present study being part of a larger, partially unpublished project., PMID: 32505603 doi: 10.1053/j.jvca.2020.04.045

The fellowship in adult cardiothoracic anesthesiology has matured as an accredited program. This special article addresses current challenges in this educational milieu. The first challenge relates to serving as a program director in the contemporary era. The second challenge deals with the accreditation process, including the site visit. The third challenge discusses the integration of structural heart disease and interventional echocardiography into daily practice. The fourth challenge deals with the issues that face fellowship education in the near future. Taken together, these perspectives provide a review of the contemporary challenges facing fellowship education in adult cardiothoracic anesthesiology.

To test the association between transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) and incidence of acute kidney injury and length of hospitalization among United States adults undergoing isolated coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.This was an observational, retrospective cohort analysis.This study used a multicenter claims dataset from a commercially insured population undergoing CABG surgery in the United States between 2004 and 2016.Adults aged 18 years or older with continuous insurance enrollment and an absence of renal-related diagnoses before the index CABG surgery.Receipt of TEE within 1 calendar day of the index CABG surgery date.Of 51,487 CABG surgeries, 5,361 (10.4%; [95% confidence interval [CI]: 10.1-10.7%]) developed acute kidney injury and the mean length of hospitalization was 8.8 days (95% CI: 8.7-8.8). The TEE group demonstrated a greater absolute risk difference (RD) for acute kidney injury by multiple linear regression, overall, (RD=+1.0; [95% CI: 0.4-1.5%]; p0.001) and among a low-risk subgroup (RD=+1.0; [95% CI: 0.4-1.6; p = 0.002), but not by instrumental variable analysis (RD=+0.9 [95% CI: -1.1 to 2.9%]; p = 0.362). The TEE group demonstrated a longer length of hospitalization by multiple linear regression, overall (+2.0%; [95% CI: 1.1-2.9%]; p0.001), among a low-risk subgroup (+2.2%; [95% CI: 1.2-3.2%]; p0.001), and by instrumental variable analysis (+10.3%; [95% CI: 7.0-13.7%]; p0.001).TEE monitoring in CABG surgery was not associated with a lower incidence of acute kidney injury or decreased length of hospitalization. These findings highlight the importance of additional work to study the clinical effectiveness of TEE in CABG surgery.

This highlights in our specialty for 2019 begin with the ongoing major developments in transcatheter valve interventions. Thereafter, the advances in left ventricular assist devices are reviewed. The recent focus on conduit selection and robotic options in coronary artery bypass surgery are then explored. Finally, this special articles closes with a discussion of pulmonary hypertension in noncardiac surgery, anesthetic technique in cardiac surgery, as well as postoperative pneumonia and its outcome consequences.

The clinical competency committee offers a fellowship program a structured approach to assess the clinical performance of each trainee in a comprehensive fashion This special article examines the structure and function of this important committee in detail. Furthermore, the strategies for the optimal functioning of this committee are also discussed as a way to enhance the overall quality of the fellowship program.

The goal of this study was to assess the validity of Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) claims data for the identification of intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) during cardiac surgery.This study was a retrospective, cohort analysis.This study used data from electronic medical records (EMRs), in combination with CPT billing claims data, from two hospitals within the Penn Medicine Health System-Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.The cohort consisted of adult patients, aged ≥18 years, undergoing open cardiac valve surgery (repair or replacement), coronary artery bypass graft surgery, or aortic surgery between April 1 and October 31, 2019.Agreement between TEE identified using CPT billing code(s) (93312-8 with or without 93320-1 or 93325) and TEE identified by manual EMR review.As identified by a reference standard (ie, EMR review) of the 873 cases that met inclusion criteria, 867 (99.31%) cases were performed with TEE and six cases were performed without TEE (1%). Of the 867 cases performed with TEE, CPT code(s) correctly identified 866 cases, as indicated by having at least one of the CPT codes (93312-8 with or without 93320-1 or 93325). These CPT codes identified intraoperative TEE with a 99.88% sensitivity, 100.00% specificity, 100.00% positive predictive value, and 85.71% negative predictive value. When billing claims for TEE were restricted to the CPT code 93312 alone, the results were identical.Billing claims using CPT code(s) identified true intraoperative TEE with a high sensitivity, specificity, excellent positive predictive value, and moderate negative predictive value. These results demonstrated that claims data are a valuable data source from which to study the effect of TEE in cardiac surgical patients.

INTRODUCTION: Lactic acidosis after cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass is common and associated with an increase in postoperative morbidity and mortality. A number of potential causes for an elevated lactate after cardiopulmonary bypass include cellular hypoxia, impaired tissue perfusion, ischemic-reperfusion injury, aerobic glycolysis, catecholamine infusions, and systemic inflammatory response after exposure to the artificial cardiopulmonary bypass circuit. Our goal was to examine the relationship between early abnormalities in microcirculatory convective blood flow and diffusive capacity and lactate kinetics during early resuscitation in the intensive care unit. We hypothesized that patients with impaired microcirculation after cardiac surgery would have a more severe postoperative hyperlactatemia, represented by the lactate time-integral of an arterial blood lactate concentration greater than 2.0 mmol/L. METHODS: We measured sublingual microcirculation using incident darkfield video microscopy in 50 subjects on intensive care unit admission after cardiac surgery. Serial measurements of systemic hemodynamics, blood gas, lactate, and catecholamine infusions were recorded each hour for the first 6 h after surgery. Lactate area under the curve (AUC) was calculated over the first 6 h. The lactate AUC was compared between subjects with normal and low perfused vessel density (PVD 0.4), and low vessel-by-vessel microvascular flow index (MFIv

There has been a recent shift in bradycardia pacing and defibrillation therapy to leadless pacemakers and extrathoracic cardioverter-defibrillator technology due to complications associated with transvenous devices. These innovations have implications for anesthesia care, as these novel devices have design and functionality features different from transvenous devices. Current perioperative guidelines do not address management of leadless pacemakers and the subcutaneous implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, although implantation rates are increasing globally. This article addresses the features and capabilities of nontransvenous cardiac implantable electronic devices, such as the Micra and the subcutaneous implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, and provides guidance for perioperative management.