Cardiac Surgery in Jehovah's Witnesses: 329 Consecutive Cases.

OBJECTIVES:This study aimed to describe the outcome of Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs) undergoing cardiac surgery at the authors' center. DESIGN:A single-center retrospective cohort study. SETTING:At a cardiovascular center with a tertiary intensive care unit (ICU) and specific experience with cardiac surgery in JWs. The institutional protocol describing all perioperative care in JWs has been applied for 21 years. PARTICIPANTS:All JWs undergoing cardiac surgery in the Amphia Hospital from January 1, 2001 to January 31, 2022. INTERVENTIONS:None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS:The study cohort comprised 329 JWs undergoing cardiac surgery. Twenty-three patients (6.8%) were treated preoperatively for anemia. The mean European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation score was 5.1 (range 0-18). Coronary artery bypass grafting (53.2%) was performed most frequently, followed by aortic valve replacement (13.4%). Mean preoperative hemoglobin levels were 14.5 g/dL (range 9.8-18.5 g/dL), dropping to 11.6 g/dL (range 6.6-15.6 g/dL) at hospital discharge. Mean blood loss was 439 ± 349 mL in the first 12 hours postsurgery. Maximum mean postoperative troponin levels were 431 ± 424 ng/L. Resternotomy and postoperative myocardial infarction occurred in 3.6% and 4.2% of patients, respectively. On average, patients had an ICU stay of 1.4 ± 1.8 days and a hospital stay of 6.8 ± 4.2 days. Hospital mortality was 0.6% and was related to cardiac failure. CONCLUSIONS:This study demonstrated that cardiac surgery in JWs is safe when adhering to a strict perioperative patient blood management protocol.