Assessment of limited chest x-ray technique in postcardiac surgery management

• Published in: Annals of cardiac anaesthesia 2017-01, Vol.20 (1), p.38-41
• Main Authors: Salehi, Mehrdad, Saberi, Kianoush, Rahmanian, Mehrzad, Bakhshandeh, Ali, Sharifi, Shahnaz
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cardiac surgery Intensive Care Unit; chest X-ray; Chest x-rays; Echocardiography; Heart surgery; Intensive care units; Management; Original
• ISSN: 0971-9784; 0974-5181
• DOI: 10.4103/0971-9784.197829

Objectives: The objective of this study is to investigate the safety of elimination of chest radiography in the postcardiac surgery Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Methods and Design: We compared patients in two different groups of routine CXR (RCXR) and limited CXR (LCXR) and their diagnostic and therapeutic outcome in a University hospital-based single center from 2014 to 2016. 3 CXR in the RCXR group and 1 CXR in the limited group was performed, in addition to on-demand criteria. Measurement and Main Results: A total of 978 samples were acceptable for analysis which 55.21% of RCXR and 59.50% of LCXR were male patients. In total, 523 abnormalities in RCXR group and 154 occasions in LCXR group resulted in 26.73% diagnostic efficacy for RCXRs and 28.57% for LCXR. From 1956 CXR that was taken in RCXR group, 72 occasions required intervention (3.68%) and 84 cases out of 539 (15.58%) LCXR needed an action to therapy. This means a 14.40% in RCXRs′ abnormalities and 56.00% of LCXRs′ abnormalities were accompanied with some interventions. Conclusions: Abolishing routine CXR in the ICUs would not be harmful for the patients, and it can be managed based on their clinical status and other safer imaging techniques.