07 Aug COPD and Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Hossein Almassi, MD

Professor, Cardiothoracic Surgery
Medical College of Wisconsin and
Zablocki VA Medical Center
Milwaukee, Wi, 53226

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?

Answer: The main findings of this study were that off-pump coronary bypass grafting did not have a positive differential impact on outcome of patients with COPD as compared to the standard operation performed on cardiopulmonary bypass.

MedicalResearch.com: Where any of the findings unexpected?

Answer: The findings are in contrast to the reports in the literature,  which for most part are retrospective analysis and in a smaller number of patients.

MedicalResearch.com: What should patients and providers take away from your study?

Answer: The number of patients with severe COPD was small in our series and therefore the conclusions may not be quite robust for patients with severe COPD. Likewise patients were almost entirely male and the results may not be applicable to female patients with COPD.

MedicalResearch.com: What further research do you recommend as a result of your report?

Answer:  COPD patients who incurred postoperative pulmonary complications, either extended ventilatory support or re-intubation, had a 31.6% 1-year major adverse outcome.

Research efforts should be focused on this group of COPD patients to alter their long-term outcome after the discharge from the hospital.

Citation:

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Impact Upon Outcomes: The Veterans Affairs Randomized On/Off Bypass Trial

G. Hossein Almassi, A. Laurie Shroyer, Joseph F. Collins, Brack Hattler, Muath Bishawi, Janet H. Baltz, Ramin Ebrahimi, Frederick L. Grover

The Annals of Thoracic Surgery – 02 August 2013 (10.1016/j.athoracsur.2013.05.055)

Last Updated on December 21, 2014 by Marie Benz MD FAAD