Effect of novel bicaval anastomosis technique for transplantation with and without prior cardiac surgery history

Background To evaluate the graft outcomes after orthotopic heart transplantation (HTx) with a novel bicaval anastomosis technique between recipients with and without a history of prior cardiac surgery. Methods Of 70 patients who underwent HTx with a novel four-corners traction bicaval anastomosis technique from August 2017 to November 2019, 60 recipients underwent the HTx procedure as their first cardiac surgery (group A), while 10 recipients underwent HTx after prior cardiac surgery (group B). Patients in the two groups were compared in terms of their preoperative baseline variables such as etiological categories, history of blood transfusion and panel reactive antibody (PRA), intraoperative operation time and blood infusion volume, postoperative treatment time, and complications such as acute rejection and 30-day mortality as well as survival rates. Results Preoperative variables were comparable in group A and group B except for the history of blood transfusion (0% vs. 90.0%, P 0.05). Conclusions Four-corner traction bicaval anastomosis combined with a continuous everting suture technique may result in approximately comparable prognoses for heart recipients with a history of cardiac surgery when compared with those without a history of cardiac surgery and this technique may reduce the incidence of left atrial thrombosis and distortion. Further follow-up of the long-term outcomes will be required to validate these results.