Effect of Defecation Delay in Patients After Tricuspid Valve Replacement: A Retrospective Study

Defecation delay is a common symptom in patients after tricuspid valve replacement (TVR). Previous studies have demonstrated that defecation delay was associated with worse clinical outcomes of critically ill patients. Our study aimed to investigate the incidence and risk factors of defecation delay in patients after TVR and its adverse clinical outcomes.

A retrospective study was conducted in 206 patients undergoing TVR under cardiopulmonary bypass from May 2005 to July 2021. According to the first postoperative defecation time after surgery, patients were divided into the delayed group (>3 days) and control group (≤3 days). Baseline characteristics and preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative data were collected to investigate the clinical outcomes of defecation delay.

Among the 206 patients, 51.9% (107/206) cases were classified into the defecation delay group. Univariate analysis showed that age (P = 0.043), preoperative platelets (PLT) (P < 0.001), cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) time (P = 0.013), minimum rectal temperature (P = 0.042), and the use of prokinetic drugs (P = 0.015) were significantly different in the two groups. In addition, the perioperative adverse events in the defecation delay group were significantly higher than that of the control group. Logistic regression analysis indicated that the mortality of patients was associated with postoperative renal dysfunction (P = 0.047) and postoperative respiratory failure (P = 0.004) but was not associated with defecation delay (P > 0.05).

Patients with defecation delay after TVR were more likely to appear adverse events, however, defecation delay was not associated with mortality after TVR.