Outcome of emergency coronary artery bypass grafting

The aim of this study was to evaluate the immediate and late outcome of emergency coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in a multicenter setting.

Multicenter, retrospective study.

Four university hospitals.

596 patients were included in this study.

Included patients underwent isolated, emergency CABG.

Sixty patients (absolute rate: 10.1%, pooled rate: 8.7%) died during the in-hospital stay period. Increasing emergency CABG classes (p<0.0001), recent myocardial infarction (p=0.019), left ventricular ejection fraction≤30% (p=0.034), on-pump surgery (p=0.012), and participating centers (p<0.0001) were independent predictors of in-hospital mortality. Survival rates at 1, 3, and 5 years were 86.4%, 81.6%, and 76.1%, respectively. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation was used in 6 patients and 3 of them (50.0%) survived the immediate postoperative period. Patient populations of participating centers differed significantly in most of baseline characteristics. The preoperative use of intra-aortic balloon pump (8% to 51%) and off-pump surgery (2.8% to 56.3%) varied significantly between institutions. In-hospital mortality (2.8%, 5.9%, 7.7% and 19.8%, p<0.0001), as well as midterm survival, significantly differed between institutions (at 3 years, 90.6%, 89.8%, 81.2%, and 67.2%, p<0.0001).

The outcome after emergency CABG is satisfactory despite a significant operative risk. However, the results of emergency CABG significantly differed between the participating institutions, likely due to differences in the referral pathways and perioperative treatment strategies. Evaluation of these factors is crucial for implementation of treatment in centers with suboptimal results.