Predicting early mortality following single-stage coronary artery or valve surgery and carotid endarterectomy

Background: Surgical management of coexisting cardiac disease and extra-cranial carotid artery disease is a controversial area of debate. Thus, in this challenging scenario, risk stratification may play a key role in surgical decision making. Aim: To report the results of single-stage coronary/valve surgery (CVS) and carotid endarterectomy (CEA), and to identify predictive factors associated with 30-day mortality. Methods: This was a multicenter, retrospective study of prospectively maintained data from three academic tertiary referral hospitals. For this study, only patients treated with single-stage CVS, meaning coronary artery bypass surgery or valve surgery, and CEA between March 1, 2000 and March 30, 2020, were included. Primary outcome measure of interest was 30-day mortality. Secondary outcomes were neurologic events rate, and a composite endpoint of postoperative stroke/death rate. Results: During the study period, there were 386 patients who underwent the following procedures: CEA with isolated coronary artery bypass graft in 243 (63%) cases, with isolated valve surgery in 40 (10.4%), and combination of coronary artery bypass grafting and valve surgery in 103 (26.7%). Postoperative neurologic event rate was 2.6% (n = 10) which includes 5 (1.3%) transient ischemic attacks and 5 (1.3%) strokes (major n = 3, minor n = 2). The 30-day mortality rate was 3.9% (n = 15). Predictors of 30-day mortality included preoperative left heart insufficiency (odds ratio [OR]: 5.44, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.63–18.17, p =.006), and postoperative stroke (OR: 197.11, 95% CI: 18.28–2124.93, p <.001). No predictor for postoperative stroke and for composite endpoint was identified. Conclusions: Considering that postoperative stroke rate and mortality was acceptably low, single-stage approach is an effective option in such selected high-risk patients.