Elevated Pre-Transplant Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio is Associated with Increased Vasoplegia Syndrome in Cardiac Transplantation

Vasoplegic syndrome during heart transplantation: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Vasoplegic syndrome (VS) is a common occurrence during heart transplantation (HT). It currently lacks a uniform definition between transplant centers, and its pathophysiology and treatment remain enigmatic. This systematic review summarizes the available published clinical data regarding VS during HT.

METHODS

We searched databases for all published reports on VS during HT. Data collected included the incidence of VS in the HT population, patient and intraoperative characteristics, and postoperative outcomes.

RESULTS

Twenty-two publications were included in this review. The prevalence of VS during HT was 28.72% (95% confidence interval: 27.37%, 30.10%). Factors associated with VS included male sex, higher body mass index, hypothyroidism, pre-HT left ventricular assist device or venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO), pre-HT calcium channel blocker or amiodarone usage, longer cardiopulmonary bypass time, and higher blood product transfusion requirement. Patients who developed VS were more likely to require postoperative VA-ECMO support, renal replacement therapy, reoperation for bleeding, longer mechanical ventilation, and a greater 30-day and 1-year mortality.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of our systematic review are an initial step for providing clinicians with data that can help identify high-risk patients and avenues for potential risk mitigation. Establishing guidelines that officially define VS will aid in the precise diagnosis of these patients during HT and guide treatment. Future studies of treatment strategies for refractory VS are needed in this high-risk patient population.

VASOplegia is Predicted by Preoperative Platelet-LEucocyte conGlomerate Indices in Cardiac Surgery (VASOPLEGICS): A retrospective single-center study

Background

Post-cardiotomy vasoplegia syndrome (VS) is often linked to an exaggerated inflammatory response to cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). At the same time, the prognostic role of platelet-leucocyte indices (PLIs) and leucocyte indices (LIs), (platelet-lymphocyte ratio [PLR], systemic immune-inflammation index [SII = platelet × neutrophil/lymphocyte], aggregate index of systemic inflammation [AISI = platelet × monocyte × neutrophil/lymphocyte], and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio [NLR], systemic inflammation response index [SIRI = monocyte × neutrophil/lymphocyte), respectively] has been recently described in diverse inflammatory settings.

Methods

The retrospective study was conducted to evaluate the VS predictive performance of PLIs and LIs in 1,045 adult patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery at a tertiary care center. VS was defined by mean blood pressure <60 mmHg, low systemic vascular resistance (SVRI <1,500 dynes.s/cm 5/m2), a normal or high CI (>2.5 L/min/m2), and a normal or reduced central filling pressure despite high-dose vasopressors.

Results

About 205 (19.61%) patients developed VS postoperatively. On univariate analysis, age, diabetes, dialysis-dependent renal failure, preoperative congestive heart failure (CHF), the European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (EuroSCORE) II, ejection fraction, NLR, PLR, SII, SIRI, AISI, CPB, and aortic cross clamp (ACC) duration, packed red blood cell (PRBC) transfusion, and time-weighted average blood glucose predicted VS. Subsequent to the multivariate analysis, the predictive performance of EuroSCORE II (OR: 3.236; 95% CI: 2.345-4.468; P < 0.001), CHF (OR: 1.04; 95% CI: 1.02-1.06; P = 0.011), SII (OR: 1.09; 95% CI: 1.02-1.18; P = 0.001), AISI (OR: 1.11; 95% CI: 1.05-1.17; P < 0.001), PRBC (OR: 4.747; 95% CI: 2.443-9.223; P < 0.001), ACC time (OR: 1.003; 95% CI: 1.001-1.005; P = 0.004), and CPB time (OR: 1.016; 95% CI: 1.004-1.028; P = 0.001) remained significant. VS predictive cut-offs of SII and AISI were 1,045 1045×109 /mm3 and 137532×109/mm3, respectively. AISI positively correlated with the postoperative vasoactive-inotropic score (R = 0.718), lactate (R = 0.655), mechanical ventilation duration (R = 0.837), and ICU stay (R = 0.757).

Conclusions

Preoperative elevated SII and AISI emerged as independent predictors of post-cardiotomy VS.

Usefulness of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) as a prognostic predictor after treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma." Review article

The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is an inflammatory marker which has been investigated as a prognostic indicator in post-therapeutic recurrence and survival of patients with HCC. Our aim was to review all studies that assessed the prognostic value of pre-treatment NLR in predicting patient survival, cancer recurrence, and graft survival in patients undergoing various therapies for HCC. We searched the database of PubMed and Google Scholar to review all studies that have the word "NLR" and the word "HCC." We included all studies that assessed pre-treatment NLR as a prognostic factor in predicting outcomes in HCC patients. We excluded studies that assessed the correlation between post-treatment NLR or dynamic changes in NLR after treatment and HCC outcomes in an effort to minimize the confounding effect of each treatment on NLR. We reviewed 123 studies that studied the correlation between pre-treatment NLR and patient survival, 72 studies that evaluated the correlation between pre-treatment NLR and tumor recurrence, 21 studies that evaluated the correlation between NLR and tumor behavior, and 4 studies that assessed the correlation between NLR and graft survival. We found a remarkable heterogeneity between the methods of the studies, which is likely responsible for the differences in outcomes. The majority of the studies suggested a correlation between higher levels of pre-treatment NLR and poor outcomes. We concluded that NLR is a reliable and inexpensive biomarker and should be incorporated into other prognostic models to help determine outcomes following HCC treatment.