Slaughterhouse blood as a perfusate for studying myocardial function under ischemic conditions

Metabolic studies using the in vitro non-recirculating blood-perfused isolated heart model require large volumes of blood. The present study was designed to determine whether heterologous pig blood collected from a slaughterhouse can be used as perfusate for isolated pig hearts perfused under aerobic and constant reduced flow conditions. Eight isolated working pig hearts perfused for 90 min at a constant flow of 1.5 ml g-1 min-1 with non-recirculated blood diluted with Krebs-Henseleit bicarbonate buffer at a hematocrit of 23 percent were compared to eight hearts subjected to the same protocol but perfused only with Krebs-Henseleit bicarbonate buffer solution. Hearts were paced at 100 bpm and subjected to aerobic perfusion at 38ºC. Hearts were weighed before perfusion and at the end of the experiment and the results are reported as percent weight gain (mean ± SD). Comparisons between groups were performed by the Student t-test (P<0.05). After 90 min of perfusion with modified Krebs-Henseleit, perfused hearts presented a larger weight gain than blood-perfused hearts (39.34 ± 9.27 vs 23.13 ± 5.42 percent, P = 0.003). Left ventricular end-diastolic pressure was higher in the modified Krebs-Henseleit-perfused group than in the blood group (2.8 ± 0.4 vs 2.3 ± 0.3 mmHg, respectively, P = 0.01). We conclude that heterologous blood perfusion, by preserving a more physiological myocardial water content, is a better perfusion fluid than modified Krebs-Henseleit solution for quantitative studies of myocardial metabolism and heart function under ischemic conditions

Traumatismos hepaticos cerrados: rol de la tomografia axial computada en la terapeutica no quirurgica / Close hepatic injuries: role of computerized axial tomography in the non-surgical therapy

Se estudiaron 33 pacientes con traumatismo abdominal que tuvieron compromiso hepático y presencia de hemoperitoneo, en quienes se adoptó una actitud no quirúrgica, analizando la evolución tomográfica de las imágenes intraparenquimatosas y del hemoperitoneo. Salvo un paciente, con estalido del lóbulo izquierdo hepático el hematoma centrohepático, las fracturas lobares y los hematomas subcapsulares. En 2 casos se necesitó realizar drenaje de colecciones intrahepáticas persistentes. La presencia de hemoperitoneo fue motivo de indicación quirúrgica. Los resultados confirman las actuales tendencias sobre el tratamiento conservador con control evolutivo, tomográfico y ecográfico, de las diferentes lesiones intrahepáticas, en pacientes hemodinámicamente estables