The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol 76, 70-77, Copyright © 1978 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Western Thoracic Surgical Association
Alterations in regional contractility following cardiopulmonary bypass with intraoperative ischemia
VA Gaudiani, HJ Smith and SE Epstein
Coronary occlusion during cardiopulmonary bypass has been used in place of
aortic occlusion to perform coronary artery anastomoses, but this procedure
on distal myocardial function has not been evaluated. Regional myocardial
function was examined with the use of ultrasonic crystals in 20 dogs
subjected to this technique to compare normothermic and hypothermic (30
degrees C) bypass in both beating and fibrillating hearts. We found a
significant decline in the velocity of contraction of the distal segment in
fibrillating compared to bearing hearts (p less than 0.01). Hypothermia
prevented this decline in the beating, but not the fibrillating, hearts.
With respect to contractile function in the distal myocardial segment,
local occlusion techniques cause an injury similar to that reported for
aortic cross-clamping.
