Purpose

Investigate inhaled nitric oxide’s influence on mortality rates, mechanical ventilation and cardiopulmonary bypass duration, and length of stay in the intensive care unit and hospital when administered during cardiopulmonary bypass.

Methods

Following the PRISMA guidelines, we searched four electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science) up to 4th March 2023. The protocol was registered in the PROSPERO database with ID: CRD42023423007. Using Review Manager software, we reported outcomes as risk ratios (RRs) or mean difference (MD) and confidence intervals (CIs).

Results

The meta-analysis included a total of 17 studies with 2897 patients. Overall, there were no significant differences in using nitric oxide over control concerning mortality (RR = 1.03, 95% CI 0.73 to 1.45; P = 0.88) or cardiopulmonary bypass duration (MD = −0.14, 95% CI − 0.96 to 0.69; P = 0.74). The intensive care unit days were significantly lower in the nitric oxide group than control (MD = −0.80, 95% CI − 1.31 to −0.29; P = 0.002). Difference results were obtained in terms of the length of stay in the hospital according to sensitivity analysis (without sensitivity [MD = −0.41, 95% CI − 0.79 to −0.02; P = 0.04] vs. with sensitivity [MD = −0.31, 95% CI − 0.69 to 0.07; P = 0.11]. Subgroup analysis shows that, in children, nitric oxide was favored over control in significantly reducing the duration of mechanical ventilation (MD = −4.58, 95% CI − 5.63 to −3.53; P < 0.001).

Conclusion

Using inhaled nitric oxide during cardiopulmonary bypass reduces the length of stay in the intensive care unit, and for children, it reduces the duration of mechanical ventilation.