Impact of timing for intra-aortic balloon pump insertion on patients undergoing mitral valve surgery

Background This study aimed to investigate the timing of intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) insertion in patients undergoing mitral valve surgery. Methods A total of 136 patients who had undergone mitral valve surgery and IABP insertion under cardiopulmonary bypass at Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital between June 2017 and June 2021 were enrolled in this retrospective analysis. The patients were divided into early and late IABP insertion groups based on the timing of the insertion. The primary endpoint of the observation was the survival rate of patients in both groups, while the secondary endpoints included the incidence of complications and the length of hospital stay. Results Among the 136 patients enrolled, 55 were in the early insertion group and 81 in the late insertion group. There was no statistically significant difference in in-hospital mortality between the two groups ( p = 0.715). However, statistically significant differences were observed in the incidence of postoperative complications, specifically infection ( p = 0.03) and re-exploration for bleeding ( p = 0.02). Although pairwise comparison did not show any statistically significant difference in the length of hospital stay, the duration of intensive care unit stay was significantly shorter among patients in the early IABP insertion group ( p = 0.01). Conclusions The timing of IABP insertion did not exhibit significant impacts on patients undergoing mitral valve surgery.