European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, Vol 6, 397-402, Copyright © 1992 by European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery
Biocompatibility of extracorporeal circulation with autooxygenation
A Bochenek, Z Religa, F Kokot, AM Wnuk-Wojnar, J Wojnar, R Wnuk, G Gallert and J Skiba
1st Clinic of Cardiac Surgery, Silesian Medical Academy, Silesian Heart Center, Katowice, Poland.
Platelet damage, complement activation and neutropenia during
cardiopulmonary bypass are the result of blood contact with artificial
surfaces, mainly in the oxygenator. To evaluate biocompatibility of this
kind of bypass we compared two techniques of extracorporeal circulation in
40 patients undergoing elective coronary bypass operations. In 20, a
standard technique with a bubble oxygenator was used (group 1), and in the
remaining 20 patients with autooxygenation, the patients' own lungs were
included in the perfusion circuit (group 2). Several blood samples were
taken before, during and after perfusion to estimate the corrected platelet
numbers and pulmonary leucocyte sequestration in all patients, and
additionally in 6 patients from each group, complement C3a and C5a
anaphylatoxins were measured (radioimmunoassay). At the end of
cardiopulmonary bypass, the decline of platelet number corrected to
haematocrit platelet number in group 1 was significantly higher than in
group 2 (P less than 0.01). There was a significant increase in circulating
white blood cells when compared to pre-bypass time in both groups (P less
than 0.05). However, comparison of differences between leucocyte counts in
the blood of the patients' right and left atria showed enhanced leucocyte
sequestration in group 1, 1.46 +/- 0.5 x 10(3)/mm3 vs only 0.34 +/- 0.2 x
10(3)/mm3 in group 2. The C3a rose progressively during extracorporeal
circulation: in group 1 from 268 +/- 46 ng/l to 521 +/- 65 ng/l, and in
group 2 from 244 +/- 46 ng/l to 418 +/- 34 ng/l (P less than 0.05). No
characteristic changes in C5a activation were observed in either
group.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)