Beyond Conventional Operations: Embracing the Era of Contemporary Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery

Anesthesia for Minimal Invasive Cardiac Surgery: The Bonn Heart Center Protocol

The development and adoption of minimally invasive techniques has revolutionized various surgical disciplines and has also been introduced into cardiac surgery, offering patients less invasive options with reduced trauma and faster recovery time compared to traditional open-heart procedures with sternotomy. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the anesthesiologic management for minimally invasive cardiac surgery (MICS), focusing on preoperative assessment, intraoperative anesthesia techniques, and postoperative care protocols. Anesthesia induction and airway management strategies are tailored to each patient's needs, with meticulous attention to maintaining hemodynamic stability and ensuring adequate ventilation. Intraoperative monitoring, including transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), processed EEG monitoring, and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), facilitates real-time assessment of cardiac and cerebral perfusion, as well as function, optimizing patient safety and improving outcomes. The peripheral cannulation techniques for cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) initiation are described, highlighting the importance of cannula placement to minimize tissue as well as vessel trauma and optimize perfusion. This article also discusses specific MICS procedures, detailing anesthetic considerations and surgical techniques. The perioperative care of patients undergoing MICS requires a multidisciplinary approach including surgeons, perfusionists, and anesthesiologists adhering to standardized treatment protocols and pathways. By leveraging advanced monitoring techniques and tailored anesthetic protocols, clinicians can optimize patient outcomes and promote early extubation and enhanced recovery.

Innovations in Hybrid Laparoscopic Surgery: Integrating Advanced Technologies for Multidisciplinary Cases

Combining conventional laparoscopic techniques with cutting-edge technologies, such as robotics, improved imaging, and flexible equipment, hybrid laparoscopic techniques represent a revolutionary advancement in minimally invasive surgery. These methods have several benefits, such as increased accuracy, quicker healing periods, and fewer complications, which makes them especially useful in complicated multidisciplinary situations. The historical evolution, uses, benefits, and drawbacks of hybrid laparoscopic procedures are examined in this narrative review, which also covers urological, gastrointestinal, cardiothoracic, and gynecological surgery. The review focuses on how these methods promote interdisciplinary cooperation and creativity by enabling more accurate and successful surgical operations. It also discusses the equipment needs, integration difficulties, and technical difficulties that need to be resolved to reach the full potential of hybrid laparoscopic surgery. For hybrid laparoscopic procedures to become more widely used and effective in the future, there is a need for specialized training programs, interdisciplinary research collaborations, and ongoing technological advancements.

The safety and feasibility of mini-invasive Bentall surgery via right anterior mini-thoracotomy

Background

The right anterior mini-thoracotomy (RAMT) approach has become a popular technique in cardiac surgery and applied in valve surgery. However, there is very limited evidence on the application of RAMT in the Bentall surgery. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the safety and feasibility of the RAMT approach in Bentall surgery.

Methods

A retrospective analysis was performed on 27 patients who underwent Bentall surgery between September 2020 and April 2022 in the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University. Follow-ups were undertaken 1 and 6 months after their operations. The baseline, perioperative, and follow-up results were retrospectively analyzed.

Results

A total of 27 male patients aged 48-61 years were included in the study. The operation time ranged from 4.0 to 5.0 hours, with a median of 4.5 hours. The median aortic cross-clamping time was 122 minutes [interquartile range (IQR): 109-145 minutes], and the median cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) time was 156 minutes (IQR: 143-183 minutes). The median intensive care unit stay was 3 days (IQR: 1.75-4.25 days). The ventilation time ranged from 6.5 to 22.0 hours, with a median of 13.0 hours. The median drainage volume in the first 24 hours was 210 mL. In the following-up data, no deaths or severe complications were observed.

Conclusions

The mini-Bentall procedure through an RAMT approach is a feasible and safe approach with few wounds and good clinical results in patients undergoing aortic root replacement.

Procalcitonin for the diagnosis of postoperative bacterial infection after adult cardiac surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Patients undergoing cardiac surgery are subject to infectious complications that adversely affect outcomes. Rapid identification is essential for adequate treatment. Procalcitonin (PCT) is a noninvasive blood test that could serve this purpose, however its validity in the cardiac surgery population is still debated. We therefore performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the accuracy of PCT for the diagnosis of postoperative bacterial infection after cardiac surgery.

METHODS

We included studies on adult cardiac surgery patients, providing estimates of test accuracy. Search was performed on PubMed, EmBase and WebOfScience on April 12th, 2023 and rerun on September 15th, 2023, limited to the last 10 years. Study quality was assessed with the QUADAS-2 tool. The pooled measures of performance and diagnostic accuracy, and corresponding 95% Confidence Intervals (CI), were calculated using a bivariate regression model. Due to the variation in reported thresholds, we used a multiple-thresholds within a study random effects model for meta-analysis (diagmeta R-package).

RESULTS

Eleven studies were included in the systematic review, and 10 (2984 patients) in the meta-analysis. All studies were single-center with observational design, five of which with retrospective data collection. Quality assessment highlighted various issues, mainly concerning lack of prespecified thresholds for the index test in all studies. Results of bivariate model analysis using multiple thresholds within a study identified the optimal threshold at 3 ng/mL, with a mean sensitivity of 0.67 (0.47-0.82), mean specificity of 0.73 (95% CI 0.65-0.79), and AUC of 0.75 (IC95% 0.29-0.95). Given its importance for practice, we also evaluated PCT's predictive capability. We found that positive predictive value is at most close to 50%, also with a high prevalence (30%), and the negative predictive value was always > 90% when prevalence was < 20%.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that PCT may be used to help rule out infection after cardiac surgery. The optimal threshold of 3 ng/mL identified in this work should be confirmed with large, well-designed randomized trials that evaluate the test's impact on health outcomes and on the use of antibiotic therapy. PROSPERO Registration number CRD42023415773. Registered 22 April 2023.