Normothermic retrograde continuous blood cardioplegia, hemodynamic study

ABSTRACT

In this study, 20 patients were randomly selected. These patients had single or multivalvular lesions. They were scheduled electively to undergo open heart surgery. Results showed that the heart was arrested and perfused in 90% of the cases while in 10% repeated potassium shots were needed to maintain the heart arrested. Spontaneous rebeating immediately after aortic declamping was achieved in 85% of the cases. Weaning from the by-pass machine was easy in 95% of the cases. 5 patients [25%] needed 5 ug/kg/min. of dobutamine in the immediate postoperative period. 2 patients [10%] needed small doses of adrenaline to counteract the vasodilator effect of this technique. Only one patient [5%] showed positive electrocardiographic and enzymatic changes of perioperative myocardial infarction with no hemodynamic disturbances. It was concluded that this technique is a good alternative to the cold crystalloid cardioplegia technique in valvular heart surgery