Routine Extubation in the Operating Room After Isolated Coronary Artery Bypass

The benefits of early extubation in the operating room (OR) following cardiac surgery remain unproven. In this study, the authors evaluated perioperative outcomes after extubation in the OR versus extubation in the intensive care unit (ICU) in patients who underwent nonemergency isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). A total of 1,397 patients who underwent nonemergency isolated CABG during a six-year period were analyzed. Among them, 891 (63.8 percent) patients were extubated in the ICU, and 506 (36.2 percent) were extubated in the OR. After propensity score matching, 414 patient pairs were compared. Adjusted comparison did not show differences between the two groups in the incidence of major early postoperative complications such as reintubation, re-exploration for bleeding, stroke, renal failure, or thirty-day mortality. Furthermore, patients extubated in the OR had shorter ICU (P < 0.0001) and hospital stays (P < 0.0001), were more frequently discharged directly home (P < 0.0001), and presented with a lower thirty-day readmission rate (P = 0.04). Based on these results, the authors suggest a wider adoption of routine OR extubation for nonemergency CABG.