Paresthesia in Hand and Antebrachium Following CardiacSurgery: Incidence, Risk Factors and Clinical Course

Some patients report tingling and/or numbness in hand and/or antebrachium after cardiac surgery, but potential risc factors and clinical course are not well described, and the incidence or severity is not known. Many factors may impact on the development of these complaints: age, BMI, pre-operative neurological deficits, diabetes, type, technique and duration of cardiac surgery, positioning of arms and hands during surgery, placement of the arterial line, time-to-extubation and post-operative positioning during this period.

The investigators aim to describe incidence and clinical course of these complaints and possibly identify modifiable risc factors in a retrospective cohort of patients that have undergone fast-track cardiac surgery, as a part of the on-going patient-centered quality improvement.

The study included 361 patients. Conclusion The incidence of hand paresthesia following cardiac surgery was 10%. This study found an increased occurrence of paresthesia after aortic valve surgery and prolonged aortic cross-clamp duration; these differences were not statistically significant. The impact of arterial line placement and patient positioning as a risk factor remains unclear. The majority of patients with paresthesia were overweight and had pre-existing comorbidity, with 11% reporting preoperative paresthesia. The clinical course of hand paresthesia following cardiac surgery was predominantly transient and not severe.

Inclusion criteria

• adult patients
• cardiac surgery in the period from january 2022 to december 2023
• perioperative data entered into the quality database SafeBrain