A retrospective follow-up study was performed on 238 consecutive admissions in the surgical ICU. The patients were grouped into four categories according to the therapeutic intervention scoring system: 14 in class I, 13 in class II, 81 in class III and 130 in class IV. The mortality rate during their stay in the ICU (5.4%), after discharge from the ICU (2.1%) and 2 years after discharge from the hospital (7.6%) was estimated. The functional state after discharge from the hospital showed that 74% of the patients resumed their normal work, 10% were handicapped but self-reliant, and 1.3% were dependent on others in order to pursue their daily activities. Fifty-two percent of the total hospitalization costs were generated during the ICU stage which accounted for 17.5% of the hospitalization period. Sixty percent of the total financial investment was spent on the group of survivors who resumed normal work. The mean cost per survivor was $7095 or $1 per survivor per day of active life over an average span of 15 years survival after discharge from the hospital.
To compare how outcome can be predicted from global haemodynamic compared with regional perfusion-related variables (gastric intramucosal pH (pHi) and intramucosal-arterial PCO2 difference (delta PCO2)), we measured global haemodynamics, gastric pHi and delta PCO2 in 68 haemodynamically compromised patients after cardiac surgery on admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) and 12 h later. Overall mortality rate in the ICU was 19.1%. In non-survivors, mean arterial pressure on admission (P = 0.03) and at 12 h (P = 0.02) was lower, and mean pulmonary artery pressure on admission (P = 0.006) and at 12 h (P = 0.004) was higher than in survivors. Gastric pHi on admission and at 12 h did not differ between non-survivors and survivors (7.37 (SD 0.1) vs 7.39 (0.09), and 7.37 (0.1) vs 7.41 (0.09), respectively). delta PCO2 on admission and at 12 h did not differ between non-survivors and survivors (0.52 (0.52) kPa vs 0.47 (1.01) kPa and 0.59 (0.7) kPa vs 0.62 (0.9) kPa, respectively). Our data showed that global, routinely monitored, haemodynamic variables are better early predictors of outcome after cardiac surgery than regional, tonometric variables. This conclusion does not support hypoperfusion of the gastrointestinal tract as an early determinant of outcome after cardiac surgery.
Pharmacological suppression of gastric acid secretion is mandatory for reliable iPCO2 tonometry after cardiopulmonary bypass surgery, even when gastric acid secretion is transiently inhibited. In fact, gastric acid secretion was inhibited immediately after surgery, but returned on the first postoperative day in most patients, as judged from the bicarbonate back titration of gastric acid, even when gastric juice pH was relatively high.
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