The Perfusion Downunder collaborative database project.

The Perfusion Downunder Collaboration provides research infrastructure and support to the Australian and New Zealand perfusion community, with the objective of determining best practices and producing relevant research publications. The Perfusion Downunder Collaborative Database (PDUCD) has been created for the purpose of collecting a dataset for cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) procedures that includes integration with commercially available CPB data collection software. Initial testing of the PDUCD involved collection of data from four Australian and New Zealand hospitals from March to July 2007. Data from 513 procedures were compared with the concurrent Australasian Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons (ASCTS) database report to assess the validity of the collected data. Demographic, preoperative, and procedural variables were comparable between databases. Perfusion variables showed a median nasopharyngeal temperature of 36.7degrees C at separation from CPB (range, 35.3-37.5 degrees C), which was similar to maximum nasopharyngeal temperature (median, 36.8 degrees C). Median arterial flow and mean arterial pressure were 4.2 L/min and 57.2 mmHg, respectively. Control charts indicate a central tendency of 12.5 minutes for mean arterial pressure < 50 mmHg and 3.5 minutes for arterial flow < 1.6 L/min/m2 (cumulative time). There was no difference in median minimum and maximum blood glucose between diabetic and nondiabetic patients during CPB with 40% of patients receiving insulin. Median minimum and maximum activated clotting time (ACT) during CPB was 581 and 692 seconds, respectively. Outcome data for isolated coronary artery bypass grafting were similar for mortality (only) (both 1.8%). Initial data collection showed concurrent validity compared with the ASCTS database. The inclusion of a large quantity of calculated CPB variables in the dataset highlights the benefits of electronic data collection as a research tool within a collaborative research network and the potential for the evaluation of the relationships between patient risk factors, perfusion practice, and patient outcomes.