To determine the probability of a clinically relevant reduction in postoperative myocardial injury following the use of propofol-supplemented cardioplegia.

Systematic review and Bayesian meta-analysis.

Perioperative cardiac surgery.

Adult patients (N = 523) undergoing cardiac surgery requiring cardiopulmonary bypass.

Propofol-supplemented cardioplegic solution versus standard cardioplegia.

The primary endpoint was postoperative troponin levels. A Bayesian hierarchical random-effects model using weakly informative priors yielded a pooled standardized mean difference (SMD) of –0.05 (95% credible interval [CrI], –0.33 to 0.24). The posterior probability of any reduction in postoperative troponin levels (SMD < 0) was 70.8%. Secondary endpoints showed similarly uncertain evidence of benefit, including postoperative creatinine levels (SMD, –0.06; 95% CrI, –0.71 to 0.46; probability of benefit, 59.8%), serious complications (risk ratio [RR], 0.77; 95% CrI, 0.18 to 2.28; probability of benefit, 70.3%), and postoperative arrhythmias (RR, 0.96; 95% CrI, 0.51 to 1.62; probability of benefit, 56.4%).

Current evidence suggests moderate posterior probabilities of benefit across endpoints. However, substantial uncertainty remains regarding the magnitude and direction of the true treatment effects. These findings do not provide convincing evidence to support routine addition of propofol to standardized cardioplegic protocols, and the use of propofol-supplemented cardioplegia should remain at the discretion of the heart surgery team.