Intermittent Aortic Cross-Clamping for Isolated CABG Can Save Lives and Money: Experience with 15 307 Patients[*]

Abstract

Background: The ideal myocardial protection during isolated CABG is still a matter of debate. Cardioplegia versus intermittent aortic cross-clamping (IACC) are the main opponents; the following article shows that IACC can be safe, efficient and might be cheaper than cardioplegia. Methods: Demographics and co-morbidities of 15 307 CABG only patients consecutively operated on between January 1993 and October 2001 in the Heart Center in Bad Oeynhausen were assessed by the German Quality Assurance data set and risk-stratified using the EuroSCORE. Outcome (30-day or in-hospital mortality) was compared to the expected EuroSCORE estimation. Results: Expected mortality was 3.25 %, observed mortality was 1.3 %, being significantly lower in the low, medium as well as high risk patients subgroup. Complication rates increased steadily with expected mortality rates. Stroke and myocardial infarction rates for patients with peripheral vessel disease were not higher than in comparable studies. More than 1 000 000 EUR were saved by lower cardioplegia bills. Conclusion: Myocardial protection with intermittent aortic cross-clamping for isolated CABG can be safe, effective, and economically advantageous when compared to cardioplegic solutions.

CABG - cross-clamping - mortality

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1 Presented at the 23rd annual meeting in Leipzig, February 23 - 26, 2003