Health-related quality of life after coronary artery bypass grafting: a review of randomized controlled trials.

Objective outcome measures (i.e., survival, mortality, morbidity, complication rate, symptom recurrence, and need for re-interventions) have long been used as benchmarks for successful cardiac surgery, including coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Along with these objectively measurable outcome indicators, acquired improvement by cardiac surgery in subjectively experienced health-related quality of life (HRQoL) has gained importance during the last decade in cardiac surgical research. If an increasing proportion of adult patients referred for CABG are elderly, octogenarians or even nonagenarians, the acquired HRQoL benefit from bypass surgery should be considered to be at least as important an outcome measure as potentially marginal improvement in life expectancy or longevity alone. To achieve the maximal HRQoL benefit and to optimize patient selection, a comprehensive analysis and understanding of contributors that affect pre- and postoperative self-perceived HRQoL is essential. These include patient-related characteristics (e.g., demographics and underlying comorbidities), surgical technique-related factors, and healthcare-related attributes. In this paper we review the randomized controlled trials published during the last ten years to analyze the effect of CABG on HRQoL. Specifically, we focus on the differences between the on-pump and off-pump (OPCAB) bypass techniques, investigate the factors that contribute to post-CABG HRQoL, and study post-CABG HRQoL in elderly patients.