A Risk Score to Predict 30-Day Mortality in Patients with Intra-Aortic Balloon Pump Implantation

Outcome analysis for prediction of early and long-term survival in patients receiving intra-aortic balloon pumping after cardiac surgery

Background

Patients requiring an intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) after cardiac surgery are critically ill and need a prolonged ICU stay. Considering limited health care resources, the early identification of patients with an extremely poor prognosis is important as a solid base for the decision whether further aggressive continuation or cessation of the therapy is recommendable.

Methods

From 2001 to 2007, 552 patients with low-output syndrome after open-heart surgery and IABP implantation in OR or within 24 h thereafter on ICU were retrospectively analyzed.

Results

The overall mortality at 30 and 180-day were 31 and 40 %, respectively. According to multivariate analyses, following factors were used to generate an IABP score: female gender, age ≥70 years, simultaneous coronary and valve surgery, aortic cross-clamp time >120 min., need of norepinephrin more than 0.4 µg kg⁻¹ min⁻¹, postoperative dialysis, and maximal serum creatinine kinase >3000 mg mL⁻¹. The 30-day mortality continuously increased along the score (10.1 % for score = 0, n = 98; 11.8 % for score = 1, n = 144; 27.5 % for score = 2, n = 153; 40.4 % score = 3, n = 89; 65.2 % for score = 4, n = 46; 77.8 % for score = 5, n = 27) and reached 100 % for all patients with a score of 6 (n = 4).

Conclusions

Prediction of 30 days mortality was possible with our scoring system based on multivariate analysis, and patients with scores of 4 or greater had remarkably worse early and late survival.

Clinical and billing review of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a temporary technique for providing life support for cardiac dysfunction, pulmonary dysfunction, or both. The two forms of ECMO, veno-arterial (VA) and veno-venous (VV), are used to support cardiopulmonary and pulmonary dysfunction, respectively. Historically, ECMO was predominantly used in the neonatal and pediatric populations, as early adult studies failed to improve outcomes. ECMO has become far more common in the adult population because of positive results in published case series and clinical trials during the 2009 influenza A(H1N1) pandemic in 2009 to 2010. Advances in technology that make the technique much easier to implement likely fueled the renewed interest. Although exact criteria for ECMO are not available, patients who are good candidates are generally considered to be relatively young and suffering from acute illness that is believed to be reversible or organ dysfunction that is otherwise treatable. With the increase in the use in the adult population, a number of different codes have been generated to better identify the method of support with distinctly different relative value units assigned to each code from a very simple prior coding scheme. To effectively be reimbursed for use of the technique, it is imperative that the clinician understands the new coding scheme and works with payers to determine what is incorporated into each specific code.