Preoperative Prediction of Early Mortality in Patients with Low Ejection Fraction Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY: Patients with low ejection fraction (EF) undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) usually have a higher incidence of mortality and morbidity. In this retrospective study, we sought to detect significant preoperative predictors of early mortality in these patients. METHODS: Patients with an EF of ≤ 30% who underwent isolated CABG in Catharina Hospital, Eindhoven, the Netherlands, between January 1998 and December 2008 (n = 413) were included in this study. All the preoperative patient-related risk factors were entered into a logistic regression analysis model to detect the significant predictors of early mortality. RESULTS: Patients with an EF of ≤ 30% represent 4.1% of the whole CABG population. The overall early mortality in this patient group was 9.1%. Risk factors for early mortality as identified by the univariate analysis were age, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), prior CABG, New York Heart association (NYHA) class, emergency operation, preoperative serum creatinine (SeCr), and preoperative hemoglobin (Hb) level. These factors were entered into the multivariate analysis and were all identified as independent risk factors for early mortality. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirmed the impact of some well-known preoperative risk factors on early outcome in patients with low EF undergoing CABG. In addition, we have shown the predictive value of preoperative SeCr and hemoglobin level that have not yet been described.