Impact of regional anesthesia on left and right ventricular performance after off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting: randomized controlled study

Introduction . New anesthesia techniques require evidence of the safety of their implementation, however there is still the opinion about negative impact of regional anesthesia on heart performance and central hemodynamics. The objective of our study was to evaluate effect of regional anesthesia on systolic and diastolic myocardial function in off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCAB). Materials and methods . A prospective randomized controlled trial included 45 patients who underwent elective OPCAB, equally divided into 3 groups – general anesthesia in combination with epidural anesthesia (GA+EA), general anesthesia with erector spinae plane block (GA+ESPB) and general anesthesia without regional anesthesia (GA). The systolic function of the left (LV) and right ventricle (RV), as well as the diastolic function of the LV were evaluated during five stages perioperatively, using echocardiography and thermodilution via Swan-Ganz catheter. Results . There were no intergroup differences in parameters of LV or RV systolic function and LV diastolic function during study stages. Perioperatively, there was a decrease in LV end-diastolic volume in the groups of OA+ESPB (p = 0.001) and OA (p = 0.003).At the end of the first postoperative day (POD), pulmonary artery wedge pressure decreased in the groups of OA+EA (p = 0.003) and OA+ESPB (p = 0.008); meanwhile, ejection time (p = 0.003) and velocity-time integral (p = 0.005) from RV reduced only in the OA+ESPB group. In the OA+EA group at the end of POD1, the reservoir strain of left atrium (p = 0.022) and isovolumic relaxation time (p = 0.006) decreased. Conclusion . In OPCAB, epidural anesthesia and ESPB do not result in deterioration of LV systolic and diastolic function and do not have a negative impact on the RV.