Limiting brain and lung damage after coronary artery bypass grafting: an alternative to conventional coronary artery bypass graft

Dementia and depression with ischemic heart disease: a population-based longitudinal study comparing interventional approaches to medical management

BACKGROUND

We compared the proportion of ischemic heart disease (IHD) patients newly diagnosed with dementia and depression across three treatment groups: percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and medical management alone (IHD-medical).

METHODS AND FINDINGS

De-identified, individual-level administrative records of health service use for the population of Manitoba, Canada (approximately 1.1 million) were examined. From April 1, 1993 to March 31, 1998, patients were identified with a diagnosis of IHD (ICD-9-CM codes). Index events of CABG or PCI were identified from April 1, 1998 to March 31, 2003. Outcomes were depression or dementia after the index event. Patients were followed forward to March 31, 2006 or until censored. Proportional hazards regression analysis was undertaken. Independent variables examined were age, sex, diabetes, hypertension and income quintile, medical management alone for IHD, or intervention by PCI or CABG. Age, sex, diabetes, and presence of hypertension were all strongly associated with the diagnosis of depression and dementia. There was no association with income quintile. Dementia was less frequent with PCI compared to medical management; (HR = 0.65; p = 0.017). CABG did not provide the same protective effect compared to medical management (HR = 0.90; p = 0.372). New diagnosis depression was more frequent with interventional approaches: PCI (n = 626; hazard ratio = 1.25; p = 0.028) and CABG (n = 1124, HR = 1.32; p = 0.0001) than non-interventional patients (n = 34,508). Subsequent CABG was nearly 16-fold higher (p<0.0001) and subsequent PCI was 22-fold higher (p<0.0001) for PCI-managed than CABG-managed patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients managed with PCI had the lowest likelihood of dementia-only 65% of the risk for medical management alone. Both interventional approaches were associated with a higher risk of new diagnosed depression compared to medical management. Long-term myocardial revascularization was superior with CABG. These findings suggest that PCI may confer a long-term protective effect from dementia. The mechanism(s) of dementia protection requires elucidation.

Pulsatile Versus Nonpulsatile Cardiopulmonary Bypass Flow: An Evidence-Based Approach

OBJECTIVE

To derive evidence-based recommendations for the use of pulsatile perfusion (PP) technique for the reduction of mortality and nonfatal complications after elective coronary artery bypass grafting surgery (CABG).

OUTCOMES

Incidence of total mortality, myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, and renal failure during hospital stay.

EVIDENCE

Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane controlled trial register (CCTR) on the Cochrane library were searched from the earliest achievable date of each database to March 2005. No language restrictions were applied. Retrieved reprints were evaluated according to a priori inclusion criteria, and those included were critically appraised using established internal validity criteria. BENEFITS AND HARMS: Only one fair quality randomized controlled trial demonstrated the beneficial effect of PP in reducing the incidence of total mortality and MI. No studies demonstrated the beneficial effect of PP in reducing the incidence of stoke or renal failure. One randomized controlled trial demonstrated that PP was associated with increased hemolysis compared to nonpulsatile (NP) perfusion.

CONCLUSION

The evidence is conflicting and therefore does not support making recommendation for or against routinely providing the PP to reduce the incidence of mortality or MI. The evidence is insufficient to recommend for or against routinely providing the pulsatile profusion to reduce the incidence of stroke or renal failure.