Hepatitis patients undergoing cardiac surgery: A single-center retrospective study

This study aimed to investigate whether there is difference among various clinical variables, especially blood loss and total drainage volume, among patients with different types of hepatitis undergoing cardiac surgery. A retrospective study was performed on 150 hepatitis patients (127 hepatitis B and 23 hepatitis C) who underwent cardiac surgery at a single cardiovascular center in 2020. Data on their preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative variables were collected and statistically analyzed to assess the inter-group differences in the following variables: intraoperative blood loss, postoperative drainage volume, proportion of patients treated with blood transfusion, proportion of patients treated with vasoactive drugs, and changes in hepatic and renal function. In terms of the main outcome variables, there was no significant difference with respect to intraoperative blood loss and total postoperative blood loss between the 2 groups (P > .05). The lowest intraoperative hematocrit (HCT) was (26.43 ± 4.98)% and (23.5 ± 3.94)% in the hepatitis B and C groups; a significant difference was observed (P = .01). The proportion of patients requiring red blood cell (RBC) transfusion was 3.90% and 17.40% in the hepatitis B and C groups; a significant difference was also noted (P = .043). Hepatitis C patients had a lower intraoperative minimum HCT and a higher probability of RBC transfusion than hepatitis B patients undergoing cardiac surgery. However, blood loss and the total postoperative blood loss were not found to be associated with any specific type of hepatitis.