Objective: To identify the demographic, clinical, and echocardiographic features that predict the use of inotropic support at separation from cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB).
Design: Retrospective study of consecutive patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.
Setting: Referral center for cardiothoracic surgery at a university hospital.
Participants: One thousand nine patients undergoing either CABG or combined CABG and valve surgery with CPB in whom an intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) examination was performed.
Interventions: Inotropic support was defined as the use of dopamine >/=5 microg/kg/min; any dose of epinephrine, norepinephrine, dobutamine, and milrinone; or the insertion of an IABP during separation from CPB. Support was implemented by the anesthesia care team as clinically indicated. Comprehensive TEE examinations were conducted before CPB in all patients according to published guidelines and subsequently reviewed by a single, independent operator.
Measurements and main results: Inotropic support was used in a total of 394 patients (39%) at separation from CPB. The study identified 6 significant, independent predictors of inotrope use: (1) Wall Motion Score Index, (2) combined CABG and mitral valve repair or replacement surgery, (3) left ventricular ejection fraction <35%, (4) reoperation, (5) moderate-to-severe mitral regurgitation, and (6) aortic cross-clamp time.
Conclusions: Incorporating data from a comprehensive intraoperative TEE examination, the authors identified 6 reproducible factors that independently predict the use of inotropic support at separation from CPB.