Objective

The effects of preoperative (pre-op) renin-angiotensin system (RAS) inhibitors on outcomes in patients undergoing cardiac surgery remain uncertain. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the use of pre-op RAS inhibitors affected major outcomes of cardiac surgery.

Design

A retrospective cohort study.

Setting

A university teaching hospital.

Participants

Patients undergoing cardiac surgery between January 1, 2001 and December 31, 2011.

Interventions

One thousand two hundred thirty-nine patients who received pre-op RAS inhibitors were compared with those who did not (control group, n = 1,083).

Measurements and main results

Acute kidney injury (AKI) was defined using Acute Kidney Injury Network classification. Patients in the RAS inhibitors group presented with higher comorbidities. Pre-op RAS inhibitors therapy was associated with the reduction in the incidence of AKI (27.2% v 34.0%, p<0.001), septicemia (1.9% v 3.5%, p = 0.019), and operative mortality (2.99% v 4.62%, p = 0.039). After adjusted propensity scores and multivariate logistic regression, the pre-op RAS inhibitors were found to have protective effects against AKI (odds ratio [OR]: 0.764, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.670-0.873, p<0.001), septicemia (OR: 0.515, 95% CI: 0.348-0.761, p>0.001), and operative mortality (OR: 0.539, 95% CI: 0.348-0.758, p<0.001).

Conclusion

The results suggested that pre-op RAS inhibitor therapy was associated with significant reductions in the risk of AKI, operative mortality, and septicemia.

Purpose

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a devastating complication with substantial mortality. The aims of this study were to identify the incidence, preoperative and intraoperative risk factors, and impact of ARDS on outcomes in patients after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT).

Materials and methods

Adult OLT patients between January 2004 and October 2013 at our center were included. Postoperative ARDS was determined using the criteria proposed by the Berlin Definition. Multivariate logistic models were used to identify preoperative and intraoperative risk factors for ARDS.

Results

Of 1726 patients during the study period, 71 (4.1%) developed ARDS. In the preoperative model, encephalopathy (odds ratio [OR], 2.22; P = .022), preoperative requirement of intubation (OR, 2.06; P = .020), and total bilirubin (OR, 1.02; P = .003) were independent risk factors. In the intraoperative model, large pressor bolus was the sole risk factor for ARDS (OR, 2.69; P = .001). Postoperatively, patients with ARDS had a 2-fold increase in 1-year mortality, mechanical ventilation time, and length of hospital stay.

Conclusions

Acute respiratory distress syndrome occurred at a rate of 4.1% following OLT in adult patients and was associated with preoperative encephalopathy, requirement of intubation, and total bilirubin and intraoperative large boluses of pressors. Acute respiratory distress syndrome was associated with increased mortality, longer ventilation time, and hospital stay.