Association between postoperative hypothermia and adverse outcome after coronary artery bypass surgery.
BACKGROUND
We examined the effect on outcome of mild hypothermia (< 36 degrees C) upon intensive care unit (ICU) admission on patient outcome after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB).


METHODS
We performed a retrospective database analysis of 5,701 isolated CABG patients requiring CPB, operated upon from January 1995 to June 1997. Patients were classified as either hypo- (< 36 degrees C) or normothermic (> or = 36 degrees C) upon ICU admission. ICU admission bladder core temperature (BCT) versus outcome was evaluated. Outcome measures included mortality, resource utilization (mechanical ventilation time, ICU and hospital length of stay, and postoperative packed red blood cell transfusion), and major morbidity (cardiac, renal, neurologic, or major infection).


RESULTS
Overall, patients admitted to the ICU with BCT < 36 degrees C had a significantly greater mortality (p = 0.02), prolonged mechanical ventilation (p = 0.007), packed red blood cell transfusion (p = 0.001), ICU (p = 0.01), and hospital (p = 0.005) length of stay.


CONCLUSIONS
BCT of less than 36 degrees C, upon ICU admission, has a significant association with adverse outcome after CABG with CPB. M An __ Tl QA_7_t-0
Department of Cardiothoracic Anesthesia, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Ohio 44195, USA. inslers@ccf.org
S R
SR
Insler
M S
MS
O'Connor
M J
MJ
Leventhal
D R
DR
Nelson
N J
NJ
Starr
D000368:Aged; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007035:Hypothermia / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology*; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010343:Patient Admission; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome