The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol 77, 896-899, Copyright © 1979 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Western Thoracic Surgical Association
Effects of methylprednisolone in cardioplegic solution during coronary bypass grafting
MM Kirsh, DM Behrendt and KE Jochim
The effects of adding 500 mg. of methylprednisolone to each liter of
cardioplegic solution were studied in patients undergoing coronary artery
bypass grafts. Patients were randomly assigned to control (12 patients) or
steroid-treated groups (10 patients). The cardioplegic solution was
identical in the two groups except for the added methylprednisolone.
Contractile element velocity (VCE and left ventricular end-diastolic
pressure (LVEDP) were recorded immediately before and after perfusion in
the operating room. There were no differences between the two groups with
respect to these two variables or the postoperative courses. Thus this
study fails to demonstrate a beneficial effect of methylprednisolone when
added to cardioplegic solutions.