Sonographic muscle mass assessment in patients after cardiac surgery.

Background: Patients undergoing cardiac surgery particularly those with comorbidities and frailty, experience frequently higher rates of post-operative morbidity, mortality and prolonged hospital length of stay. Muscle mass wasting seems to play important role in prolonged mechanical ventilation (MV) and consequently in intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital stay.

Aim: To investigate the clinical value of skeletal muscle mass assessed by ultrasound early after cardiac surgery in terms of duration of MV and ICU length of stay.