The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol 70, 707-711, Copyright © 1975 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Western Thoracic Surgical Association
Dipyridamole and thrombocyte count in open-heart surgery
LS Nuutinen and P Mononen
The effect of dipyridamole (Persantine) on the thrombocyte count in
connection with open-heart surgery and perfusion was studied in 12
patients. A control series of 38 patients undergoing open-heart surgery was
available. The dose of dipyridamole, depending on the duration of the
perfusion, was 40 to 80 mg. intravenously. We found that dipyridamole
definitely had the effect of maintaining the thrombocyte count. At the end
of perfusion, the mean thrombocyte count in the dipyridamole group was 129
+/- 20.6 x 10(9)/L. and in the control group 82 +/- 7.4 x 10(9)/L. The
result was statistically almost significant (p less than 0.05). At the end
of anesthesia the respective mean values were 164.9 +/- 29.7 and 110.8 +/-
8.1 x 10(9)/L. The difference was almost significant (p less than 0.05).
The use of dipyridamole did not increase the postoperative hemorrhagic
tendency. Our results support the earlier experimental findings that
dipyridamole favors the maintenance of thrombocyte counts.