Myocardial damage prevented by volatile anesthetics: a multicenter randomized controlled study.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of volatile anesthesia versus total intravenous anesthesia on cardiac troponin release in off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCAB).

Design: The authors performed a multicenter randomized controlled study to compare cardiac troponin release in patients receiving either volatile anesthetics or total intravenous anesthesia for cardiac surgery on the beating heart, which is an excellent model of human myocardial ischemia.

Setting: Three university hospitals.

Procalcitonin is useful whereas C-reactive protein is not, to predict complications following coronary artery bypass surgery.

Background: The respective value of procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) as markers of postoperative complications after coronary bypass surgery is unclear. Therefore, complications during one week after surgery were studied to evaluate the predictive role of PCT and CRP changes during the immediate postoperative period.

Methods: Thirty-two patients, in whom an uneventful immediate postoperative course was anticipated, were prospectively enrolled and followed-up to the 7th postoperative day.