• Int. J. Cardiol. · Mar 2015

    Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study

    Dexamethasone for the prevention of postoperative atrial fibrillation.

    • Dirk van Osch, Jan M Dieleman, Diederik van Dijk, Kirolos A Jacob, Jolanda Kluin, Pieter A Doevendans, Hendrik M Nathoe, DExamethasone for Cardiac Surgery (DECS) study group, and DExamethasone for Cardiac Surgery DECS study group.
    • Department of Cardiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands.
    • Int. J. Cardiol. 2015 Mar 1;182:431-7.

    BackgroundPostoperative atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common complication after cardiac surgery. Inflammation is believed to play a pivotal role in the etiology of postoperative AF. There is a suggestion from small studies that perioperative treatment with corticosteroids may reduce postoperative AF. The DExamethasone for Cardiac Surgery (DECS) study was a large randomized trial showing no protective effect of dexamethasone on major adverse events. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of dexamethasone treatment on the occurrence of AF after cardiac surgery.MethodsThe DECS study compared intra-operative dexamethasone (1mg/kg) or placebo treatment in 4494 adult patients undergoing cardiac surgery. AF was defined by the occurrence of any reported AF within 30days after surgery. We also performed an in-depth analysis of a subset of 1565 patients on new-onset AF. Relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated.ResultsThe incidence of any AF in the main study of 4494 patients was 33.1% in the dexamethasone and 35.2% in the placebo group (RR 0.94, 95% CI: 0.87-1.02, p=0.14). In the substudy of 1565 patients, the incidence of new-onset AF was 33.0% vs. 35.5% (RR 0.93, 95% CI: 0.81-1.07, p=0.31), respectively. There was no protective effect of dexamethasone across clinically important patient subgroups.ConclusionIntraoperative administration of dexamethasone had no protective effect on the occurrence of any or new-onset atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery. Therefore, the use of dexamethasone for the reduction of postoperative AF should not be recommended.Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

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