The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol 35, 493-499, Copyright © 1983 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Prevention and reperfusion injury following cardioplegic arrest by pulsatile flow
NA Silverman, S Levitsky, J Kohler, M Trenkner and H Feinberg
To assess the efficacy of pulsatile flow in minimizing reperfusion injury
following cardioplegic arrest, 20 dogs supported by cardiopulmonary bypass
underwent 60 minutes of hypothermic, hyperkalemic crystalloid cardioplegic
arrest. The effects of pulsatile flow (Group 2), initiated during 30
minutes of reperfusion, on myocardial adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and
creatine phosphate (CP) stores, coronary blood flow, and myocardial water
content were compared with the effects of linear flow reperfusion (Group
1). Myocardial ATP stores were maintained at preischemic levels by this
mode of myocardial protection. However, pulsatile flow prevented the
significant decline in ATP levels incurred during linear reperfusion.
Creatine phosphate stores, although depleted during arrest, were restored
equally, regardless of the mode of reperfusion. The decline in ATP stores
was associated with no pathological increase in myocardial water content,
but was associated with persistent reactive hyperemia. In contrast, after
30 minutes of pulsatile reperfusion, coronary blood flow was significantly
decreased compared with preischemic flow. These data indicate that
pulsatile reperfusion can prevent the unique decline in ATP levels
associated with the restoration of coronary flow after cardioplegic arrest
(reperfusion injury), and support its continuing evaluation as an adjunct
to adequate intraoperative myocardial protection.