Summary: | The purpose of this study was to compare patients who underwent on- vs. off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery managed with a fast-track protocol. Between September 2012 and December 2018, <i>n</i> = 3505 coronary artery bypass surgeries were managed with a fast-track protocol in our specialized post-anesthesia care unit. Propensity score matching was applied and resulted in two equal groups of <i>n</i> = 926. There was no significant difference in ventilation time (on-pump 75 (55–120) min vs. off-pump 80 (55–120) min, <i>p</i> = 0.973). We found no statistically significant difference in primary fast-track failure in on-pump (8.2% (76)) vs. off-pump (6% (56)) groups (<i>p</i> = 0.702). The secondary fast-track failure rate was comparable (on-pump 12.9% (110) vs. off-pump 12.3% (107), <i>p</i> = 0.702). There were no significant differences between groups in regard to the post-anesthesia care unit, the intermediate care unit, and the hospital length of stay. Postoperative outcome and complications were also comparable, except for a statistically significant difference in PACU postoperative blood loss in on-pump (234 mL) vs. off-pump (323 mL, <i>p</i> < 0.0001) and red blood cell transfusion (11%) and (5%, <i>p</i> < 0.001), respectively. Our results suggest that on- and off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery in fast-track settings are comparable in terms of ventilation time, fast-track failure rate, and postoperative complications rate.
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