The Impact of Volatile Anesthetic Choice on Postoperative Outcomes of Cardiac Surgery: A Meta-Analysis

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the impact of volatile anesthetic choice on clinically relevant outcomes of patients undergoing cardiac surgery. METHODS: Major databases were systematically searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing volatile anesthetics (isoflurane versus sevoflurane) in cardiac surgery. Study-level characteristics, intraoperative events, and postoperative outcomes were extracted from the articles. RESULTS: Sixteen RCTs involving 961 patients were included in this meta-analysis. There were no significant differences between both anesthetics in terms of intensive care unit length of stay (SMD −0.07, 95% CI −0.38 to 0.24, P = 0.66), hospital length of stay (SMD 0.06, 95% CI −0.33 to 0.45, P = 0.76), time to extubation (SMD 0.29, 95% CI −0.08 to 0.65, P = 0.12), S100β (at the end of surgery: SMD 0.08, 95% CI −0.33 to 0.49, P = 0.71; 24 hours after surgery: SMD 0.21, 95% CI −0.23 to 0.65, P = 0.34), or troponin (at the end of surgery: SMD −1.13, 95% CI −2.39 to 0.13, P = 0.08; 24 hours after surgery: SMD 0.74, 95% CI −0.15 to 1.62, P = 0.10). CK-MB was shown to be significantly increased when using isoflurane instead of sevoflurane (SMD 2.16, 95% CI 0.57 to 3.74, P = 0.008). CONCLUSIONS: The volatile anesthetic choice has no significant impact on postoperative outcomes of patients undergoing cardiac surgery.