Year in Review 2020: Noteworthy Literature in Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology

Abstract

The year 2020 was marred by the emergence of a deadly pandemic that disrupted every aspect of life. Despite the disruption, notable research accomplishments in the practice of cardiothoracic anesthesiology occurred in 2020 with an emphasis on optimizing care, improving outcomes, and expanding what is possible for patients undergoing cardiac surgery. This year’s edition of Noteworthy Literature Review will focus on specific themes in cardiac anesthesiology that include preoperative anemia, predictors of acute kidney injury following cardiac surgery, pain management modalities, anticoagulation strategies after transcatheter aortic valve replacement, mechanical circulatory support, and future directions in research.

The Year 2022 in Review and a Glimpse into the Future

“…37 Transitioning to adult cardiac anesthesiology, the past year saw the publication of numerous studies on clinical practice, risk prediction, post-operative outcomes, and technological advances. 38 The HandiCAP RCT investigated the effect of intraoperative anesthesia care handovers on all-cause mortality, hospital readmission, and serious postoperative complications, finding no significant difference within 30 days of surgery and concluding that handovers may carry less risk than fatigue or attention lapses during the provision of an anesthetic. 39 Kappadia and colleagues discovered no statistically significant difference in the incidence of clinically apparent stroke after TAVR with and without cerebral embolic protection, suggesting that a different mechanism may be responsible for stroke in this population.…”

Year in Review 2023: Noteworthy Literature in Cardiac Anesthesiology

“…We completed a structured literature review as reported previously with additional search terms. 1,2 We searched PubMed with the following terms filtered on “clinical trial,” “randomized controlled trial,” and “meta-analysis”: “cardiac Anesthesiology,” N = 9; “cardiac anesthesia,” N = 11; “cardiopulmonary bypass,” N = 88; “cardiothoracic surgery,” N = 229; “mechanical circulatory support,” N = 21; “heart transplant,” N = 21; and “lung transplant,” N = 28. We also reviewed the contents of the most prominent clinical journals to identify impactful and relevant work which may not be captured by our search terms: the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and the Lancet, N = 51.…”

Year in Review 2021: Noteworthy Literature in Cardiothoracic Anesthesia

“…To identify articles for this review, we completed a structured review using our previously reported methods. 1 Specifically, we used the search terms: "cardiac anesthesiology and outcomes" (n = 177), "cardiothoracic anesthesiology" (n = 34), "cardiac anesthesia," and "clinical outcomes" (n = 42) filtered on clinical trials and the year 2021 in PubMed. We also reviewed clinical trials from the most prominent clinical journals to identify additional studies for a narrative review.…”