Pre-surgery Optimization of Patients’ Expectations to Improve Outcome in Heart Surgery: Study Protocol of the Randomized Controlled Multicenter PSY-HEART-II Trial

Background: Preoperative psychological preparation is gaining importance for cardiac surgery. The PSY-HEART-I trial indicated that a brief psychological intervention optimizing patients' expectations before heart surgery improves disability and quality of life 6 months after coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG). However, to investigate the clinical utility of such an intervention, a large multi-center trial is needed to generalize the results and their implications for the health care system. The PSY-HEART-II study aims to examine whether a preoperative psychological intervention targeting patients' expectations (EXPECT) can improve outcomes 6 months after CABG (with or without heart valve replacement).