A specialized post anaesthetic care unit improves fast-track management in cardiac surgery: a prospective randomized trial.

Introduction: Fast-track treatment in cardiac surgery has become the global standard of care. We compared the efficacy and safety of a specialised post-anaesthetic care unit (PACU) to a conventional intensive care unit (ICU) in achieving defined fast-track end-points in adult patients after elective cardiac surgery.

Methods: In a prospective, single blinded, randomized study, 200 adult patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery (coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), valve surgery or combined CABG and valve surgery), were selected to receive their postoperative treatment either in the ICU (n = 100), or in the PACU (n = 100).

The incidence of intraoperative awareness in cardiac surgery fast-track treatment.

Objective: To determine the occurrence of intraoperative awareness with recall in cardiac surgery patients undergoing fast-track anesthetic management in a direct-admission postanesthetic care unit.

Design: Prospective.

Setting: University-affiliated heart center.