Incidence, patterns, and factors associated with postoperative pulmonary complications in an ERAS cardiac surgery program
This ERAS-based cohort study found that postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) affected one in four cardiac surgery patients and were associated with longer ICU and hospital stays. In addition to established risk factors such as advanced age, obesity, frailty, smoking, and redo surgery, exploratory analyses identified shorter chest drain duration and early extubation as factors associated with fewer PPCs. These findings suggest that optimized chest drain management may be an important modifiable component of cardiac ERAS pathways, warranting further investigation.
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