Operating Room Extubation for Patients Undergoing Cardiac Surgery: A National Society of Thoracic Surgeons Database Analysis

The utility of operating room extubation (ORE) after cardiac surgery over fast-track extubation (FTE) within 6 hours remains contested. The authors hypothesized ORE would be associated with equivalent rates of morbidity and mortality, relative to FTE. They found that ORE was associated with similar or improved outcomes compared to FTE. The study covering 669,099 patients across 1,069 hospitals revealed that ORE had lower postoperative mortality rates for coronary artery bypass grafting, aortic valve replacement, and mitral valve replacement. These findings suggest that ORE can be safe and potentially beneficial, indicating a need for further research to optimize patient selection and explore the benefits of ORE through randomized trials. Video