title: Open cardiac compression in the postoperative cardiac intensive care unit.
abstract: Thirty-nine patients required heroic resuscitative measures for sudden hypotension and cardiac arrest in the first 72 hours following cardiac surgery between January 1, 1984 and May 31, 1988. Emergency sternotomy with open cardiac compression was performed in twenty-four of these patients when external cardiac compression failed. These were categorised as Group A. Group B comprised the fifteen patients in whom resuscitation was entirely by means of external compression and adjuvant measures. Survival with NYHA Functional Class I and II status was noted in 75% of patients in Group A, compared with 20% in Group B (P less than 0.002). Emergency sternotomy with open cardiac compression is an effective way of resuscitating patients in the intensive care unit in the first few days following open heart surgery.
authors.affiliation: Cardiothoracic Surgical Unit, St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Raman
authors.forename: R F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Saldanha
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Branch
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Esmore
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Spratt
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Farnsworth
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Harrison
authors.forename: V P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: M X
authors.initials: MX
authors.lastname: Shanahan
mesh_terms: D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures; D004630:Emergencies; D005260:Female; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000601:surgery*; D006336:Heart Massage / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007022:Hypotension / Q000601:surgery*; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000601:surgery*; D012189:Retrospective Studies