Outcomes After Noncardiac Surgery for Patients with Pulmonary Hypertension: A Historical Cohort Study.

OBJECTIVE

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a substantial preoperative risk factor. For this study, morbidity and mortality were examined after noncardiac surgery in patients with precapillary PH.

DESIGN

A retrospective cohort study.

SETTING

Quaternary medical center in Rochester, MN.

PARTICIPANTS

Adults with PH undergoing noncardiac surgery.

INTERVENTIONS: None.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN

RESULTS

The PH and surgical databases were reviewed from 2010 to 2017. Patients were excluded if PH was attributable to left-sided heart disease or they had undergone cardiac or transplantation surgeries. To assess whether PH-specific diagnostic or cardiopulmonary testing parameters were predictive of perioperative complications, generalized estimating equations were used. Of 196 patients with PH, 53 (27%) experienced 1 or more complications, including 5 deaths (3%) within 30 days. After adjustment for age and PH type, there were more complications in those undergoing moderate- to high-risk versus low-risk procedures (odds ratio [OR] 4.17 [95% confidence interval {CI} 2.07-8.40]; p < 0.001). After adjustment for age, surgical risk, and PH type, the complication risk was greater for patients with worse functional status (OR 2.39 [95% CI 1.19-4.78]; p = 0.01 for classes III/IV v classes I/II) and elevated serum N-terminal fragment of the prohormone brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) (OR 2.28 [95% CI 1.05-4.96]; p = 0.04 for ≥300 v <300 pg/mL). After adjusting for age, surgical risk, and functional status, elevated NT-proBNP remained associated with increased risk (OR 2.23 [95% CI 1.05-4.76]; p = 0.04).

CONCLUSION

PH patients undergoing noncardiac surgery have a high frequency of complications. Worse functional status, elevated serum NT-proBNP, and higher-risk surgery are predictive of worse outcome.