Oropharyngeal dysphagia and related factors in post-cardiac surgery: a systematic review

To identify the main factors associated with oropharyngeal dysphagia following cardiac surgery through a systematic review of the literature.

A bibliographic search was conducted in the PubMed and ScienceDirect databases using the following keywords: "cardiac surgery", "deglutition disorders", and "dysphagia".

Articles published in Portuguese, English, or Spanish addressing oropharyngeal dysphagia following cardiac surgery were selected with no time limitation. Only studies available in full were included.

First, articles were screened for title and abstract. Subsequently, they were submitted to full assessment by two blinded referees. The following data were extracted: authors, year of publication, study design, sample size, variables evaluated, and main results.

The main factors related to oropharyngeal dysphagia in post-cardiac surgery were advanced age, presence of comorbidities and other diseases, intubation time, and surgical conditions.

The studies showed high heterogeneity, demonstrating that individuals who undergo cardiac surgical procedures, especially the elderly, present several factors related to oropharyngeal dysphagia postoperatively, such as cardiopulmonary bypass, transesophageal echocardiography, associated comorbidities, development of postoperative sepsis, and previous heart conditions.