The Annals of thoracic surgery
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Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has emerged as an effective technique for the mechanical support of many pediatric postcardiotomy patients with medically refractory cardiac failure. ⋯ Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation is most effective in salvaging pediatric cardiac surgical patients who demonstrate medically refractory hemodynamic deterioration at some interval after being successfully weaned from cardiopulmonary bypass. The right atrial pressure after extracorporeal membrane oxygenation decannulation is an independent predictor of hospital death.
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Protamine sulfate, which is used for heparin neutralization, has been reported to induce catastrophic pulmonary vasoconstriction after infusion. However, in the systemic circulation, protamine infusion induces hypotension due to peripheral vasodilation. ⋯ Protamine-mediated pulmonary vasodilatation could be an important mechanism to protect against the constrictive effects of autocoids generated during heparin neutralization. Such a mechanism might be dysfunctional in certain persons and put them at risk for pulmonary vasoconstriction after protamine infusion.
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Guidelines for transfusion practice have had limited impact in altering physician transfusion behavior in patients undergoing cardiac operations. This may be due to a lack of consensus on the relative risks and benefits of blood in these patients who are anemic, limited access to timely data that are necessary on which to base transfusion decisions, the recognition that empiric hemoglobin/hematocrit thresholds are limited clinical indicators of the need for blood, or a combination of these. We present an overview of current transfusion and blood conservation practices in this setting, along with possible approaches to guide the decision-making process by coupling the use of transfusion algorithms with point of care testing to use more physiologic indicators of the need for blood transfusion.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Completely heparinized cardiopulmonary bypass and reduced systemic heparin: clinical and hemostatic effects.
When heparinized circuits are used for cardiopulmonary bypass, the amounts of heparin and protamine administered systemically can be reduced. However, it is not entirely known what effects this reduction in systemic anticoagulation has on clinical performance and on the coagulation and fibrinolytic systems. ⋯ The combination of complete heparin-coated cardiopulmonary bypass circuits and low systemic heparinization is safe for patients undergoing elective coronary artery bypass procedures and reduces the perioperative blood loss. There was no evidence of increased thrombogenicity, fibrinolytic activity, or consumption of coagulation factors. No clinical or technical side effects were observed.
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Changes in right ventricular mass and ejection fraction after single-lung transplantation for pulmonary hypertension are poorly understood. ⋯ Right ventricular performance returns to nearly normal early after transplantation, but the right ventricular mass regresses over a more prolonged time. Cine magnetic resonance imaging provides a noninvasive means of assessing changes in right ventricular function and mass after lung transplantation.