Current concepts in cerebral oximetry for adult cardiac surgery

Despite significant impovements in surgical management and perioperative techniques, adverse neurological outcomes still remain a serious postoperative complication in patients undergoing cardiac surgery with an estimated incidence that ranges from 2% to 5% in most centers. Cerebral oximetry has been postulated as an emerging tool for real-time detection of clinical scenarios that can potentially predispose to cerebral injuries. Despite recent advances in near-infrared spectroscopy and an increasing availability of clinical data, the application of cerebral oximetry has not been as rapid as expected due to several reasons such as: a) disparities between research models and biological tissues, b) management errors, c) variations in susceptibility to movement artifacts or multidistance measurements and d) discrepancies among devices. This systematic review critically evaluates the application of cerebral oximetry in adult cardiac surgical patients, addresses its major technological strengths and limitations, summarizes the main characteristics of widely used devices, and provides an overview of the most recent literature.