Abstract

Manthou Panagiota*, Lioliousis Georgios, Pappa Despoina, Bouzis Evangelos and Manna Ibrahim

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The increased morbidity of cardiovascular diseases has led to new cardiac surgery techniques to reduce complications and length of stay in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The time of the extracorporeal circulation and the complexity of the operation increase the complications and may delay weaning. Aim & Methods: The aim of this study was to investigate the weaning time in patients undergoing open heart surgery and the risk factors that may prolong the length of stay in the ICU. This was a randomized prospective study with the participation of 130 patients who had undergone cardiac surgery using cardiopulmonary bypass, under extracorporeal circulation. Length of stay in ICU, inotropic and antiarrhythmic medication use, anesthetic procedures were recorded. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS version 19.0, using bivariate and multivariate linear progression. Results: The majority of patients (55.4%) underwent coronary artery bypass graft (GABG), while the rest of them had cardiac valve surgery. The most frequent co- morbidities were hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. After one failed weaning attempt, the 5.4% received mannitol. The mean extracorporeal circulation time was 113.1 minutes and the average length of stay in the ICU was approximately 3 days. The extracorporeal circulation time was found to depend on the type of surgery (p