Esmolol in Cardiac Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective: To assess whether the administration of the ultra-short-acting β-blocker esmolol in cardiac surgery could have a cardioprotective effect that translates into improved postoperative outcomes.

Design: Single-center, double-blinded, parallel-group randomized controlled trial.

Setting: A tertiary care referral center.

Anesthesiologic Management of Patients Undergoing Cardiac Transapical Procedures: Which Challenges in the Modern Era?

Objective: Patients undergoing transapical cardiac procedure are a minority of cardiac surgery patients but represent a challenge for cardiac anesthesiologists because they generally are older and have more comorbidities than do open heart cardiac surgery patients. The aims of this study were to describe the anesthetic experience with transapical procedures in a single high-volume center and to analyze the most critical aspects for anesthetic management.

Design: Retrospective study.

Esmolol before cardioplegia and as cardioplegia adjuvant reduces cardiac troponin release after cardiac surgery. A randomized trial.

Background: Cardioplegic solutions are the standard in myocardial protection during cardiac surgery, since they interrupt the electro-mechanical activity of the heart and protect it from ischemia during aortic cross-clamping. Nevertheless, myocardial damage has a strong clinical impact. We tested the hypothesis that the short-acting beta-blocker esmolol, given immediately before cardiopulmonary bypass and as a cardioplegia additive, would provide an extra protection to myocardial tissue during cardiopulmonary bypass by virtually reducing myocardial activity and, therefore, oxygen consumption to zero.

Desmopressin after cardiac surgery in bleeding patients. A multicenter randomized trial.

Background: Previous studies showed that desmopressin decreases post-operative blood loss in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. These studies were small and never studied the effect of desmopressin in patients with active bleeding. Objective of the study was to determine whether desmopressin reduces red blood cells transfusion requirements in patients with active bleeding after cardiac surgery who had been pre-treated with tranexamic acid.