Perioperative Psychological Interventions in Heart Surgery–Opportunities and Clinical Benefit

Heart surgery is a source of high levels of emotional distress for the patient. If the stress experience is not adequately compensated, it can have a negative impact on postoperative recovery, as can untreated comorbid mental disorders.

A selective literature review on emotional distress and mental comorbidities in heart surgery patients and a scoping review on the spectrum and effectiveness of perioperative psychological interventions to compensate and reduce the stress experience.

Mental factors such as depressive symptoms or anxiety disorders are associated with an elevated risk of postoperative morbidity and mortality in patients treated for heart disease. Mental comorbidities occur more frequently in these patients than in the general population. Following the manifestation of chronic heart disease (CHD), for example, 15-20% of the patients display severe depressive disorders. A few psychotherapeutic interventions to reduce anxiety and depression, emotional distress, consumption of analgesics, and extubation time have been found effective, with low to moderate evidence quality. Many different psychological interventions have proved useful in clinical practice, including multimodal, multiprofessional interventions incorporating medications, education, sports, and exercise as well as psychosocial therapy including stress management. Individual psychotherapy during the period of acute inpatient treatment after myocardial infarction is also effective.

Because psychosocial factors are important, the current guidelines recommend systematic screening for mental symptoms and comorbidities in advance of heart transplantation or the implantation of ventricular assist devices (VAD). Acute psychotherapeutic interventions to reduce mental symptoms can be offered in the perioperative setting.