Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38659034›Full record

ArticleJournal of cardiothoracic surgery2024

Posterior pericardiotomy and the prevention of post-operative atrial fibrillation and cardiac tamponade in isolated coronary artery bypass grafting - A retrospective analysis.

Ayeshmanthe Rathnayake, Siew Sc Goh, Carmel Fenton, Ashutosh Hardikar

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of cardiothoracic surgery, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
2.0field-weighted citation impact, top 13% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Posterior Pericardiotomy and Its Impact on Cardiac Tamponade and Pericardial Effusion after Cardiac Surgery.Annals of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery : official journal of the Association of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons of Asia · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Ayeshmanthe RathnayakeDepartment of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Royal Hobart Hospital, 38 Liverpool Street, Hobart, TAS, 7000, Australia.
Siew Sc GohDepartment of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Royal Hobart Hospital, 38 Liverpool Street, Hobart, TAS, 7000, Australia.
Carmel FentonDepartment of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Royal Hobart Hospital, 38 Liverpool Street, Hobart, TAS, 7000, Australia.
Ashutosh HardikarDepartment of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Royal Hobart Hospital, 38 Liverpool Street, Hobart, TAS, 7000, Australia. a_hardikar@hotmail.com.
Royal Hobart Hospital · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPost-Operative Atrial Fibrillation (POAF) is the most frequent complication of cardiac surgery and is associated with reduced survival, increased rates of cognitive changes and cerebrovascular accidents, heart failure, renal dysfunction, infection, length of stay and hospital costs. Cardiac tamponade although less common, carries high morbidity and mortality. Shed mediastinal blood in the pericardial space is a major source of intrapericardial oxidative stress and inflammation that triggers POAF. The utilisation of a posterior pericardiotomy (PP) aims to shunt blood from pericardium into the pleural space and have a role in the prevention of POAF as well as cardiac tamponade.

methods2168 patients had undergone isolated Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting at Royal Hobart Hospital from 2008 to 2022. They were divided into PP group vs. control group. Patient baseline demographics, intraoperative data and post-operative outcomes were reviewed retrospectively.

resultsTotal incidence of new POAF and cardiac tamponade was 24% and 0.74% respectively. Primary outcome of both the incidence of POAF (20.2% vs. 26.3%, p < 0.05) and Cardiac Tamponade (0% vs. 1.1%, p < 0.05) were less in the pericardiotomy group. A subgroup analysis of patients with recent myocardial infarction showed reduced incidence of POAF in the PP group (p < 0.05). Increasing age, Body Mass Index, poor left ventricular ejection fraction (EF < 30%) and return to theatre were independent predictors of developing POAF. There were similar rates of return to theatre for bleeding however, no cases of tamponade in the pericardiotomy group. There were no complications attributable to left posterior pericardiotomy and the time added to the duration of surgery was minimal.

conclusionPosterior pericardiotomy is associated with a significant reduction in the incidence of POAF and cardiac tamponade which is safe and efficient.

Indexed as

Atrial FibrillationCardiac TamponadeCoronary Artery BypassPericardiectomyPostoperative ComplicationsAgedFemaleHumansIncidenceMaleMiddle AgedRetrospective StudiesCardiac TamponadeCoronary artery bypass graftingPosterior pericardiotomyPost-operative Atrial Fibrillation

Identifiers

PMID38659034
PMCPMC11040876
OpenAlexW4395081351

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

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.