We examined the safety and efficacy of del Nido cardioplegic solution compared with histidine-tryptophan-ketoglutarate cardioplegic solution in minimally invasive cardiac surgery.Patients who underwent minimally invasive cardiac surgery using del Nido or histidine-tryptophan-ketoglutarate from 2015 to 2019 were enrolled. Various clinical outcomes were compared between the groups. Postoperative laboratory findings including the levels of electrolytes, cardiac enzymes (creatine kinase-MB and troponin I), and serial blood lactate were also measured and compared. Based on 28 baseline covariates, propensity score matching was performed to reduce selection bias.Among 766 patients, del Nido and histidine-tryptophan-ketoglutarate were used in 330 patients (43.1%) and 436 patients (56.9%), respectively. There were no significant intergroup differences in postoperative clinical outcomes and early adverse outcomes among 228 pairs of propensity score-matched patients. Immediate postoperative sodium levels were within the normal range in both groups without a significant difference (P = .50). However, peak creatine kinase-MB (median, 31.9 vs 37.7 ng/mL, P = .026) and troponin I (6.9 vs 9.1 ng/mL, P = .014) levels were significantly lower in the del Nido group. Linear regression analysis revealed a significant association between the peak cardiac enzyme levels and the cardiac ischemic time depending on the cardioplegia type, with lower cardiac isoenzymes for del Nido over histidine-tryptophan-ketoglutarate (P .001) until the crossover point at the cardiac ischemic time over 100 minutes.In comparison with histidine-tryptophan-ketoglutarate solution, del Nido solution seems to have acceptable safety and efficacy with good myocardial protection in minimally invasive cardiac surgery. Further studies focusing on complex surgeries requiring longer cardiac ischemic time are needed.
