Beating heart versus conventional reoperative coronary artery bypass surgery

BACKGROUND: The incidence of reoperative coronary artery bypass grafting is increasing with an increase in the number of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery. The clinical outcome of redo coronary artery bypass grafting without cardiopulmonary bypass and conventional coronary artery bypass grafting using cardiopulmonary bypass are different. METHODS AND RESULTS: We compared clinical parameters in patients who underwent off-pump (n=156) versus on-pump (n=194) redo coronary artery bypass grafting performed between January 1995 and December 2001 in our institute, to determine if off-pump surgery has improved the surgical outcome of redo coronary artery bypass grafting and emerged as an ideal technique. Patients who underwent on-pump redo surgery required more postoperative blood transfusion (86.53% on-pump v. 12.82% off-pump. p=0.001), prolonged ventilatory support (>24 hours) (16.49% on-pump v. 7.7% off-pump, p=0.021) and higher inotropic support (23.71% on-pump v. 10.89% off-pump, p=0.003). On-pump redo coronary artery bypass grafting was also associated with a prolonged stay in the intensive care unit (40+/-6.2 hours on-pump v. 20+/-4.1 hours off-pump, p=0.001) and longer hospital stay (9+/-4.2 days on-pump v. 5+/-3.4 days off-pump, p=0.001). In-hospital mortality was higher in on-pump patients than in off-pump ones (7.7% v. 3.2%); however, this was not statistically significant (p=0.114). CONCLUSIONS: Off-pump redo coronary artery bypass grafting is a safe method of myocardial revascularization with lower operative morbidity and mortality, less requirement of blood products and early hospital discharge, compared with conventional on-pump redo coronary artery bypass grafting.