The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol 42, 60-64, Copyright © 1986 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Addition of papaverine to cardioplegia does not reduce myocardial necrosis
S Slogoff, AS Keats, DA Cooley, GJ Reul, OH Frazier, DA Ott, JM Duncan and JJ Livesay
In a randomized, double-blind prospective study involving 495 patients, we
investigated whether the addition of papaverine, 60 mg, to our existing
regimen of cold cardioplegia would reduce myocardial necrosis during
elective coronary artery bypass operations. Twenty-one (4.2%) patients
sustained acute postoperative myocardial infarctions (MI), and 7 (1.4%)
died during hospitalization. Neither MI nor death was related to papaverine
supplementation. Among 469 patients without postoperative MI, levels of the
myocardial-specific isoenzyme of creatine phosphokinase measured 10 hours
after aortic cross-clamping were related to ischemic cross-clamp time, but
not to papaverine supplementation of cardioplegia. At declamping after
completion of distal anastomoses, ventricular fibrillation was more common
after cardioplegia without papaverine (32% versus 9%). No other differences
between the two groups were found in intraoperative and postoperative
hemodynamics, difficulty of weaning from bypass, or postoperative volume
requirements. We identified three risk factors for postoperative MI: ECG
evidence of new ischemia prior to bypass, unusual technical difficulty with
distal anastomoses for the surgeon, and prolonged time of ischemia. We
conclude that addition of papaverine to our cardioplegia regimen did not
affect outcome or nonspecific myocardial necrosis.