January 17, 2024
1 min read

An in-depth session on day one of STS 2024 will showcase study results of the potential importance of treating preoperative anemia — often a marker of more advanced coronary disease and illness, and often associated with adverse outcomes — to reduce intraoperative RBC transfusions to help improve outcomes after CABG.  

“A Mediation Analysis of Anemia and Transfusions with CABG Outcomes in the National STS Database” will be presented at 1:15 p.m. CT on Saturday, January 27, during the STS Annual Meeting.  The presentation is part of the STS “How to Achieve a 0% Transfusion Rate after CABG” session.  

Dr. Motahar Hosseini, from Massachusetts General Hospital, will report on findings that utilize data of more than 53,000 patients from the National STS Adult Cardiac Surgery Database who underwent CABG in 2019, comparing operative mortality and outcomes of patients who presented with preoperative anemia to those who were non-anemic at baseline.  

“Preoperative anemia is associated with increased risk of operative mortality and longer ICU and hospital stays,” said Hosseini. “Interestingly, the study results showed that most of these effects were mediated through the effect of intraoperative RBC transfusions, while the higher association of preoperative anemia and higher rates of postoperative dialysis were largely due to direct effects of anemia itself, and only partially mediated by intraoperative transfusions.”