Cardiopulmonary Bypass and Perioperative Mechanical Ventilation Strategy: National Turkey Study

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to describe anesthesiologists' perioperative mechanical ventilation strategies in cases where cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is performed in Turkey. Material and Methods: Survey questions were sent twice via e-mail to members of the two associations consisting of specialists in Anesthesiology and Reanimation. The questions were divided into three parts to determine anesthesia applications and mechanical ventilation strategies in the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative periods of CPB. Results: The questionnaire was provided with the participation of 269 anesthesiologists. 105 (40.2%) participants stated that the number of intensive care unit beds in their hospital was over 20. A 6 ml/kg (42.5%) coefficient is preferred in calculating tidal volume outside the CPB process. The number of participants who preferred low (0-5 cmH2O) positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) throughout the surgery was 41.1%. 40.8% of the participants prefer 5-10 cmH2O PEEP in “hemodynamically stable and obese patients”. During the CPB process, 38.3% of the participants turned off the mechanical ventilator, and 24.4 % preferred to wean the patient from the mechanical ventilator. While 35.8 % of anesthesia specialists preferred recruitment maneuvers, 38.9% did not. It was concluded that 51% of the participants preferred non-invasive ventilation in patients with hypoxemia/hypercapnia, and 55.1% applied pulmonary rehabilitation after extubation to all patients. Conclusion: Our study showed that the mechanical ventilation strategies followed by most anesthesiologists in CPB in Turkey are similar.