title: Preoperative intraaortic balloon pumping improves outcomes for high-risk patients in routine coronary artery bypass graft surgery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We evaluated the association between the preoperative use of intraaortic balloon pumping and in-hospital and long-term outcomes in high-risk patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting.
  
  
  METHODS
  From 714 total patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting during a 4-year period, we compared the clinical, biochemical, and echocardiographic findings up to 1 year after surgery between 111 patients who had a European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (EuroSCORE) of 12 or greater and received intraaortic balloon pumping preoperatively (group A) and 130 patients who had a EuroSCORE of 5 or less and received no preoperative intraaortic balloon pumping (group B).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Group A patients were significantly older, had significantly more comorbid conditions, and had a significantly lower mean preoperative ejection fraction (all p < 0.001). Intraoperative data were comparable between groups, as were lactate and troponin I levels sampled from the coronary sinus. Lactate, troponin I, creatine kinase, and creatine kinase-MB mass showed comparable leakage at all postoperative times. The incidences of in-hospital mortality, perioperative myocardial damage, and acute myocardial infarction and duration of hospital stay were comparable. High-risk patients showed significant improvements in ejection fraction (p < 0.001) and wall-motion score index (p = 0.06) after surgery, but low-risk patients showed no significant change in these variables. The incidences of death, recurrent angina, myocardial infarction, and repeat coronary procedures did not differ significantly between groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The preoperative use of intraaortic balloon pumping appears to shift high-risk patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting into a lower-risk category and is associated with comparable perioperative troponin leakage and short-term and long-term outcomes similar to low-risk patients not receiving intraaortic balloon pumping.
authors.affiliation: Cardiac Surgery Unit, Magna Graecia University, Catanzaro, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Santarpino
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Onorati
authors.forename: Antonino S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Rubino
authors.forename: Karim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Abdalla
authors.forename: Santo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Caroleo
authors.forename: Ermenegildo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Santangelo
authors.forename: Attilio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Renzulli
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000379:methods* / Q000401:mortality; D023921:Coronary Stenosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D007423:Intra-Aortic Balloon Pumping / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000401:mortality; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000379:methods*; D011336:Probability; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012737:Sex Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome