Cardiology in the young
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Cardiology in the young · Jun 2008
Randomized Controlled TrialDoes cardioplegia leave room for postconditioning in paediatric cardiac surgery?
Postconditioning by brief episodes of ischaemia performed just at the time of reperfusion have been shown to reduce the size of infarcts in animal models, and in the clinical setting of percutaneous cardiac intervention. The clinical applicability of postconditioning in cardiac surgery remains to be determined. We investigated the effect of postconditioning on myocardial protection in children undergoing cardiac surgery. ⋯ Our study demonstrates that postconditioning may protect the myocardium of children undergoing cold blood cardioplegic arrest. These data support the need for a larger clinical trial of postconditiong in children undergoing cardiac surgery.