Evaluation of early extubation in the operating room for paediatric patients after congenital open-heart surgery.

BACKGROUND

Advances in surgical and perioperative care have reduced the need for prolonged mechanical ventilation in children following cardiac surgery.

AIM OF THE STUDY: To evaluate the feasibility and assess the clinical outcomes of an early extubation strategy in the operating room for children undergoing congenital heart surgery, including neonates (age < 28 days).

METHODS

This is a retrospective analysis including congenital open-heart surgery cases. We excluded patients who remained open chest postoperatively or patients with severe hemodynamic instability and high inotropic support from the study. Study variables include age, gender, weight, preoperative cardiac diagnosis, preoperative diagnosis of genetic or chromosomal abnormalities, prematurity, preoperative mechanical ventilation (invasive or non-invasive), cardiopulmonary bypass time, circulatory arrest time, postoperative use of inotropes, duration of mechanical ventilation, postoperative respiratory complication, sepsis, bleeding or other complications, paediatric cardiac ICU stay, total hospital stay, incidence of failed extubation, and operative or postoperative mortality.

RESULTS

This study included 163 patients who underwent congenital open cardiac surgery, out of these studied patients, 118 (72.4%) were extubated in the operating room. In total, 19.6% of studied patients had Down syndrome. Other genetic or chromosomal disorders were present among 8.6% of studied patients. There was a statistically significant difference between operating room extubation group and non-operating room extubation group regarding Risk Adjustment for Congenital Heart Surgery Score classification, postoperative paediatric ICU duration, postoperative hospital length of stay, vasoactive-inotrope score, duration of inotrope, open chest, and mortality.

CONCLUSION

Extubation in the operating room after congenital open-heart surgery was successful in most of our patients, even following complex procedures.