Earlier recovery with beating-heart surgery: a comparison of 300 patients undergoing conventional versus off-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery

OBJECTIVE: To compare outcomes and cost of off-pump coronary artery bypass (OP-CAB) surgery versus cardiopulmonary bypass-assisted coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. DESIGN: Retrospective review. SETTING: A tertiary care university teaching hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Patients (n = 300) undergoing isolated CABG surgery performed by a single surgeon between July 1998 and February 2000. INTERVENTIONS: Two groups of patients were compared: 150 consecutive patients undergoing OP-CAB surgery and a matched cohort of 150 consecutive patients undergoing conventional CABG surgery. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The 2 groups were evenly matched in terms of age and incidence of diabetes, hypertension, peripheral vascular disease, left main disease, prior strokes, congestive heart failure, and recent infarctions. OP-CAB procedures required 3.3 grafts per patient versus 3.8 grafts per patient required for CABG surgery (p = 0.02). Overall mortality was 2.0% (1.3% in the OP-CAB surgery group v 2.7 % in the CABG surgery group; p = NS). Extubation times (6.6 hours v 9.5 hours; p = 0.003), surgical intensive care unit length of stay (39 hours v 49 hours; p = 0.03), and hospital length of stay (6.1 days v 7.0 days; p = 0.04) were all significantly shorter for the OP-CAB surgery group. The combined aggregate endpoints of death and major morbidity were significantly less in the OP-CAB surgery group (5.3% v 12.7%; p = 0.02). CONCLUSION: OP-CAB surgery is associated with low morbidity and mortality and accelerated recovery compared with conventional CABG surgery. OP-CAB surgery may represent the ideal revascularization strategy for patients at high risk for undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass.