Relationship between Static Lung Compliance and Extubation Failure in Postoperative Cardiac Surgery Patients

Static lung compliance, which is seriously affected during surgery, can lead to respiratory failure and extubation failure, which is little explored in the decision to extubate after cardiac surgery.

To evaluate static lung compliance in the postoperative period of cardiac surgery and relate its possible reduction to cases of extubation failure in patients submitted to the fast-track method of extubation.

Patients undergoing cardiac surgery using cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) at a state university hospital admitted to the ICU under sedation and residual block were included. Their static lung compliance was assessed on the mechanical ventilator using software that uses least squares fitting (LSF) for measurement. Within 48 hours of extubation, the patients were observed for the need for reintubation due to respiratory failure. The level of significance adopted for the statistical tests was 5%, i.e., p<0.05.

77 patients (75.49%) achieved successful extubation and 25 (24.51%) failed extubation. Patients who failed extubation had lower static lung compliance compared to those who succeeded (p<0.001). We identified the cut-off point for compliance through analysis of the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (ROC), with the cut-off point being compliance <41ml/cmH2O associated with a higher probability of extubation failure (p<0.001). In the multiple regression analysis, the influence of lung compliance (divided by the ROC curve cut-off point) was found to be 9.1 times greater for patients with compliance <41ml/cmH2O (p< 0.003).

Static lung compliance <41ml/cmH2O is a factor that compromises the success of extubation in the postoperative period of cardiac surgery.