Evaluation of Dysrhythmias Following Transfusion After Coronary Artery Bypasses Grafting

Coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) is a common surgical operation usually performed under cardiopulmonary bypass. Although the relationship between the transfusion of blood products during and after surgery with the incidence of arrhythmia has been studied, contradictory results have been achieved. In the current study, we investigated the correlation between blood products transfusion during and after surgery with the incidence of postoperative arrhythmia.
Patients candidated for CABG were entered into the present cross-sectional study. The incidence of arrhythmia (supraventricular and ventricular, transient or permanent), history of medications and renal diseases, and transfusion of blood products during or after the operation were recorded and analyzed.
Twenty-two (8.2%) patients experienced atrial fibrillation and 50 (18.7%) experienced premature ventricular contractions. The use of packed red blood cells in the operating room was inversely correlated with the odds of the incidence of at least one of the arrhythmias (OR = 0.5, 95% CI: 0.28 to 0.87; P = 0.015). The number of grafts, high blood pressure, duration of mechanical ventilation in the ICU, and the potassium level upon admission to the ICU were directly correlated with the incidence of arrhythmia. Moreover, the transfusion of platelets in the ICU and the use of cryoprecipitate in the operating room were inversely correlated with the incidence of atrial fibrillation (not all arrhythmias).
According to the findings of the present study, conditionings to maintain the normal hematocrit level and platelet count is associated with decreased odds of arrhythmia incidence during and after CABG. (Iranian Heart Journal 2018; 19(1):44-51)