• Tatsuhiko Shimizu, Tomoyuki Kanazawa, Takanobu Sakura, Naohiro Shioji, Kazuyoshi Shimizu, Ryuichiro Fukuhara, Takayoshi Shinya, Tatsuo Iwasaki, and Hiroshi Morimatsu.
• Department of Anesthesiology and Resuscitology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2-5-1, Shikata-Cho, Kita-Ku, Okayama, 700-8558, Japan.
• J Anesth. 2023 Jun 1; 37 (3): 433441433-441.

PurposeThis study investigated the incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications (PPC) when high-flow nasal cannula therapy (HFNC) is used prophylactically after pediatric cardiac surgery, and evaluated its efficacy.MethodsThis was a single-arm prospective interventional study that was conducted in a tertiary teaching hospital with eight beds in the pediatric cardiac ICU after approval by the Ethics Committee. One-hundred children under the age of 48 months who were scheduled for cardiac surgery for congenital heart disease were recruited. HFNC was used for 24 h after extubation at a 2 L/kg/min flow rate. The primary outcome was the incidence of PPC within 48 h after extubation. PPC was defined as atelectasis and acute respiratory failure meeting certain criteria. We considered prophylactic HFNC as effective if the prevalence of PPC was < 10%, based on previous reports of reintubation rates of 6%-9% after pediatric cardiac surgery.ResultsA total of 91 patients were finally included in the analysis. The incidence of PPC within 48 h after extubation was 18.7%, whereas atelectasis was observed in 13.2%, and acute respiratory failure in 8.8%. Reintubation rate within 48 h after extubation was 0%.ConclusionsWe found the incidence of PPC with prophylactic HFNC after planned extubation after pediatric cardiac surgery. However, the incidence was > 10%; therefore, we could not demonstrate its efficacy in this single-arm study. Further studies are needed to investigate whether the HFNC could be adapted as first-line oxygen therapy after pediatric cardiac surgery.© 2023. The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Japanese Society of Anesthesiologists.

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