Trial reportCritical care (London, England)2014
A specialized post anaesthetic care unit improves fast-track management in cardiac surgery: a prospective randomized trial.
Trial report in Critical care (London, England), 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 30 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
PACU or ICU for Postoperative Care After Major Thoracic and Abdominal Surgery：a Prospective Randomized Clinical Trial
Impact of Bilateral Deep Parasternal Intercostal Plane Block on Intraoperative Opioid Consumption in Open Heart Surgery: a Prospective, Double-blind Randomized Controlled Study
Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 81 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy of enhanced recovery programmes for cardiac surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis.British journal of anaesthesia · 2025Pooled it
- Different extubation protocols for adult cardiac surgery: a systematic review and pairwise and network meta-analysis.BMC anesthesiology · 2025Pooled it
- Perioperative Clinical Trials in AKI.Seminars in nephrology · 2020Pooled it
- Intraoperative reduction of vasopressors using processed electroencephalographic monitoring in patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery: a randomized clinical trial.Journal of clinical monitoring and computing · 2020Trial
- Feasibility and Safety of Operating Room Extubation After Minimally Invasive Cardiac Valve Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of cardiovascular development and disease · 2026Review
- Preoperative Respiratory Training Before Cardiac Surgery: Feasibility and Longitudinal Pulmonary Function Changes in Elderly Patients.Physiotherapy research international : the journal for researchers and clinicians in physical therapy · 2026Observational
- Over-night monitoring in intensive care unit and short-term monitoring in post anesthesia care unit costs analysis after elective hepato-pancreatic-biliary surgery: a retrospective study.Updates in surgery · 2026Article
- Postoperative complications of coronary artery bypass grafting: a narrative review on pathophysiology, management strategies, and the emerging role of artificial intelligence.Cardiovascular diagnosis and therapy · 2026Review
- Postoperative Outcomes of Minimally Invasive Versus Conventional Off-Pump Coronary Artery Bypass Within an ERACS Protocol: A Matched Analysis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Article
- Risk factors for the delayed discharge from anesthesia intensive care unit: a single-center retrospective study.BMC anesthesiology · 2025Article
- Fast-track extubation in minimally invasive cardiac surgery: limits and lessons of a 4-year single-center analysis.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2025Article
- Introduction of a Post-Anaesthesia Care Unit in a Teaching Hospital Is Associated with a Reduced Length of Hospital Stay in Noncardiac Surgery: A Single-Centre Interrupted Time Series Analysis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Operating Room Versus Intensive Care Unit Extubation Within 6 Hours After On-Pump Cardiac Surgery: Early Results and Hospital Costs.Seminars in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery · 2024Article
- Feasibility of deescalating postoperative care in enhanced recovery after cardiac surgery.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2024Article
- Improved clinical outcomes following introduction of an attending intensivist for patients admitted to the cardiac surgical intensive care unit after valvular heart surgery: a single-center experience.Journal of thoracic disease · 2023Article
- Postoperative Weight Gain within Enhanced Recovery after Cardiac Surgery.Journal of cardiovascular development and disease · 2023Article
- The Spillover Effects of Quality Improvement Beyond Target Populations in Mechanical Ventilation.Critical care explorations · 2022Article
- [Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS®) in cardiac anesthesia].Die Anaesthesiologie · 2022Review
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionFast-track treatment in cardiac surgery has become the global standard of care. We compared the efficacy and safety of a specialised post-anaesthetic care unit (PACU) to a conventional intensive care unit (ICU) in achieving defined fast-track end-points in adult patients after elective cardiac surgery.
methodsIn a prospective, single blinded, randomized study, 200 adult patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery (coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), valve surgery or combined CABG and valve surgery), were selected to receive their postoperative treatment either in the ICU (n = 100), or in the PACU (n = 100). Patients who, at the time of surgery, were in cardiogenic shock, required renal dialysis, or had an additive EuroSCORE of more than 10 were excluded from the study. The primary end points were: time to extubation (ET), and length of stay in the PACU or ICU (PACU/ICU LOS respectively). Secondary end points analysed were the incidences of: surgical re-exploration, development of haemothorax, new onset cardiac arrhythmia, low cardiac output syndrome, need for cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, stroke, acute renal failure, and death.
resultsMedian time to extubation was 90 [50; 140] min in the PACU vs. 478 [305; 643] min in the ICU group (P < 0.001). Median length of stay in PACU was 3.3 [2.7; 4.0] hours vs. 17.9 [10.3; 24.9] hours in the ICU (P < 0.001). Of the adverse events examined, only the incidence of new onset cardiac arrhythmia (25 in PACU vs. 41 in ICU, P = 0.02) was statistically different between groups.
conclusionsTreatment in a specialised PACU rather than an ICU, after elective cardiac surgery leads to earlier extubation and quicker discharge to a step down unit, without compromising patient safety.
trial registrationISRCTN71768341. Registered 11 March 2014.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.