Does Pulmonary Artery Venting Decrease the Incidence of Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation after Conventional Aortocoronary Bypass Surgery?

Abstract

<strong>Objectives</strong>: In this study, we tested the hypothesis that<br />pulmonary artery venting would decrease the incidence of<br />atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass surgery.<br /><strong>Methods</strong>: This prospective study included 301 patients<br />who underwent complete myocardial revascularization with<br />cardiopulmonary bypass in our department during a 2-year<br />period. The patients were randomly divided into 2 groups:<br />group I included 151 patients who underwent aortic root<br />venting and group II included 150 patients who underwent<br />pulmonary arterial venting for decompression of the left<br />heart. Pre-, peri-, and postoperative risk factors for atrial<br />fibrillation were assessed in both groups.<br /><strong>Results</strong>: The mean age was similar in the 2 groups. The<br />mean number of anastomoses was significantly higher in<br />group I (2.8 ± 0.8) than in group II (2.4 ± 0.8) (P = 0.001).<br />The mean cross-clamp time was 42.7 ± 17.4 minutes in group<br />I and 54.1 ± 23.8 minutes in group II (P = 0.001). The mean<br />cardiopulmonary bypass time was 66.4 ± 46.1 minutes in<br />group I and 77.4 ± 28.6 minutes in group II (P = 0.08). The<br />incidence of atrial fibrillation was 14.5% (n = 21) in group I<br />and 6.5% (n = 10) in group II (P = 0.02). Multivariate regression<br />analysis showed that pulmonary artery venting decreased<br />the postoperative incidence of atrial fibrillation by 17.6%.<br /><strong>Conclusions</strong>: Pulmonary arterial venting may be used as<br />an alternative to aortic root venting during on-pump coronary<br />bypass surgery, especially in patients at high risk of postoperative<br />atrial fibrillation.