Anaesthesia and ICU sedation with sevoflurane do not reduce myocardial injury in patients undergoing cardiac surgery A randomized prospective study

{Background: To evaluate the effect of anaesthesia and ICU sedation with sevoflurane to protect the myocardium against ischemia-reperfusion injury associated to cardiac surgery assessed by troponin release. Methods: We performed a prospective, open-label, randomized study in cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. Patients were randomized to an algorithm-based intervention group and a control group. The main outcome was the perioperative kinetic of cardiac troponin I (cTnI). The secondary outcomes included composite endpoint, GDF-15 (macrophage inhibitory cytokine-1) value, arterial lactate levels, and the length of stay (LOS) in the ICU. Results: Of 82 included patients, 81 were analyzed on an intention-to-treat basis (intervention group: n = 42; control group: n = 39). On inclusion, the intervention and control groups did not differ significantly in terms of demographic and surgical data. The postoperative kinetics of cTnI did not differ significantly between groups: the mean difference was 0.44 +/- 1.09 mu g/ml