Published in:
01-12-2019 | Bisoprolol | Original Article
Incidence of postoperative atrial fibrillation in transdermal β-blocker patch users is lower than that in oral β-blocker users after cardiac and/or thoracic aortic surgery
Published in: General Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery | Issue 12/2019
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Objective
Postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) after open heart surgery is associated with a high risk of mortality and morbidity. Although oral β-blockers are usually recommended to prevent POAF, the efficacy of a transdermal β-blocker patch in preventing POAF is unclear. We compared the incidence of POAF between users of oral and transdermal bisoprolol.
Methods
We investigated 108 patients who underwent cardiac and/or thoracic aortic surgery between April 2016 and February 2018. We compared perioperative clinical and hemodynamic variables between 49 patients treated with a transdermal bisoprolol patch and 59 patients treated with an oral bisoprolol fumarate.
Results
POAF occurred in 24% of patients in the transdermal and in 46% of patients in the oral bisoprolol groups (p = 0.027). No intergroup difference was observed in in-hospital mortality, perioperative blood pressures and heart rates, and other morbidities. Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that the use of transdermal bisoprolol was independently associated with a lower rate of POAF (odds ratio 0.21, 95% confidence interval 0.05–0.84, p = 0.027).
Conclusions
A transdermal bisoprolol patch is an effective and safe β-blocker drug delivery system. The incidence of POAF in this group was lower than that in users of oral bisoprolol.