View clinical trials related to Cardiovascular Surgery.
Filter by:Delirium is one of the most common complications after cardiac surgery and occurs with an incidence of 3 - 70%. Both predisposing factors (age, diabetes, severity of cardiac disease, atrial fibrillation) and precipitating factors (type of surgery, duration of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and surgery, ventilator time in ICU, highest temperature in intensive care (ICU)) are difficult to influence. Post-operative delirium is a devastating complication, leading to longer ICU and hospital stay, increased incidence of discharge to nursing facility and poorer long-term cognitive outcome. Despite the impact this complication has on individuals, their families and healthcare resources, little is known about the causes and potential preventative measures. It is thought that systemic inflammation compromising the integrity of the blood brain barrier is an important contributing factor. Recent data suggests that antifibrinolytics like tranexamic acid (TXA) might be able to lessen the inflammation of the nervous system caused by surgery and CPB through the inhibition of plasmin production, thereby stabilising the blood brain barrier. Worldwide, the use of TXA has become standard of care in cardiac surgery and other types of surgery with a high risk of bleeding. It has been shown to reduce bleeding by 25% and significantly reduce the rate of transfusion in cardiac and noncardiac surgery. At Royal Papworth hospital it is routine practice to administer 2g of TXA before commencing CPB irrespective of patients' body weight. We are hypothesising that there is a weight-based effect of TXA on neurological outcomes after cardiac surgery, showing a signal that a higher dose per kg bodyweight will lead to less delirium measured with the Richmond Agitation-Sedation Score (RASS). We intend to analyse 4 years' worth of patient data (05/2018 - 08/2022)Íž the necessary information is routinely collected on using the hospital anaesthetic and ICU record.