Integrated Assessment of Cervicocerebral Vessels to Improve the Brain Injury for CAGB Patients (IACV Study)

Overview

The goal of this study is to establish a prospective study to focus on the high-risk stroke population who require coronary artery bypass graft surgery. It will divide the eligible patients into 1:1 group by simple randomization method. The control group adopt the traditional diagnosis and treatment mode, and only head CT plain scan and carotid artery ultrasound shall be performed. If necessary, relevant disciplines would be consulted but no integrated assessment of cervicocerebral vessels be arranged. The final treatment plan would be decided by the surgeon alone. The experimental group adopt the multidisciplinary collaboration and integrated evaluation mode. In addition to routine diagnosis and treatment as above-mentioned, integrated assessment of cervicocerebral vessels shall be performed, including transcranial color-coded doppler, cerebral perfusion with multislice CT, and cognitive function assessment. Based on the above results, surgical plans will be formulated jointly by multiple disciplines including neurologists, vascular surgeons, ICU physicians and cardiac surgeons. Researchers will compare the two groups to investigate whether integrated assessment of cervicocerebral vessels can reduce the incidence of brain injury compared with conventional diagnosis and treatment mode.

Brain injury is one of the most important factors leading to poor prognosis of CABG surgery, especially for high-risk patients. In order to reduce brain injury after cardiac surgery, preoperative assessment and management are particularly important. Multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment mode (multidisciplinary team, MDT) refers to a multidisciplinary clinical work team, usually a fixed working group composed of several related disciplines. MDT carries out routine clinical discussions for difficult and complex disease and develop accurate and effective individualized treatment plans for patients, which has become the mainstream trend. The traditional treatment mode mainly relies on head CT and carotid ultrasound to evaluate the nervous system, and then the surgeon decides the operation mode according to experience, ignoring the role of related disciplines, including neurologists, vascular surgeons, ICU physicians and cardiac surgeons. We believe that integrated assessment of cervicocerebral vessels will help reduce the incidence of brain injury in high-risk patients. This study is an exploratory attempt for high-risk patients, which can provide more evidence for the prevention of perioperative neurological complications of CABG, and is of great significance for reducing disease burden, ensuring surgical safety, and improving the long-term prognosis of patients.