A comparison of early clinical outcomes of off-pump and on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting surgery in elderly patients.

Background: The reply of question of "which coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) technique is superior in elderly patients, off-pump or on-pump CABG surgery?" is controversial. We aimed to compare the early clinical outcomes in elderly patients undergoing off-pump and on-pump CABG.

Methods: From January 2009 to January 2015, 344 elderly patients (aged 70 or older) underwent off-pump (n = 137) or on-pump (n = 207) CABG. Patients' medical records were retrospectively reviewed, and their baseline preoperative characteristics, operative data and postoperative outcomes were analyzed, thereby a comparison of early outcomes between off-pump and on-pump patients was performed.

Results: Mean age of patients was 74.4 ± 3.8 years. Both groups were statistically similar in terms of baseline preoperative characteristics. Number of distal bypass was significantly lower in off-pump group than in on-pump group. Postoperative length of intensive care unit and hospital stay were similar between two groups. Amounts of transfused blood products were significantly lower in off-pump CABG group. There were no significant differences in terms of postoperative complications and mortality between two groups.

Conclusions: Our results did not reveal a significant benefit of either surgical technique with respect to early-term clinical outcomes in elderly CABG patients. Further investigations are needed to determine whether off-pump CABG is superior than on-pump CABG in elderly patients.