Historically, adult cardiac surgical patients needed mechanical breathing support overnight in an intensive care unit after surgery. In response to increased demand for cardiac surgery services, early removal of the tube that allows mechanical breathing support (that is early tracheal extubation) after cardiac surgery is a key component of 'fast-track cardiac care'. While it is important to improve hospital efficiency by the use of fast-track interventions, they must also be safe. This updated Cochrane systematic review includes data from 25 randomized controlled trials in 4000 patients comparing fast-track care with conventional (not fast-track) care. Fast-track care interventions included the use of low-dose opioid based anaesthesia and a time-directed extubation protocol. The risk of mortality and complications after surgery (such as myocardial infarction, stroke, major bleeding) were similar between groups. Although there was a large amount of variability among the study results, tubes were removed from patients in the fast-track care group three to 11 hours earlier than for the patients in the conventional (not fast-track) group and they spent less time in the intensive care unit (0.4 to 8.7 hours). However, the duration of hospital stay was similar between groups. The results of this systematic review are not applicable to 'high risk' patients with multiple concurrent health problems or in settings where a short-acting opioid (remifentanil) is used as part of the cardiac anaesthesia technique.