The effect of intravenous N-acetyl cysteine on the incidence of postoperative atrial fibrillation in coronary artery bypass graft surgery patients

Atrial fibrillation is the most frequent arrhythmia after open heart surgery. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of intravenous (IV) N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) administration in the early postoperative period of coronary artery bypass (CABG) surgery on the incidence of postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF). A total of 60 patients who had undergone isolated CABG surgery between June 2014 – July 2015 in our clinic included in this retrospective study. The patients divided into two groups: Group 1 (n=30) included the patients who had been administered standard saline solution infusion and Group 2 (n=30) included the patients who had been administered IV NAC (10mg/kg) infusion while they were under mechanical ventilation support. All patients were administrated oral 600 mg NAC once a day for 5 days after weaning from mechanical ventilation support. The ECG’s were evaluated for POAF by the same cardiovascular surgeon who was blinded for patient groups. POAF was seen in 12 (40%) patients in Group 1 and 4 (13%) patients in Group 2. The POAF incidence was significantly higher in Group 1 (p=0.020). We think that administration IV NAC is an effective way to prevent the POAF after CABG surgery.