Tuesday February 17, 2009
Induced mild hypothermia for post-cardiopulmonary bypass vasoplegia syndrome?


Interesting article....

Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) technique used for open-heart surgery exposes patients to numerous adverse effects. Vasoplegia syndrome (VS) is one such, reported in the early postoperative period of CPB in cardiac surgery. It commonly presents with generalized profound vasodilatation resulting in the decreased systemic vascular resistance (SVR) and hypotension despite adequate cardiac output (CO). There is decreased arteriolar reactivity towards vasoconstrictors, increased need for filling volume and vasopressor agents. A release of proinflammatory cytokines leading to inflammatory response is the major contributing factor.

In this article, authors induce mild hypothermia (core temp 34°C) by surface cooling using hypo-hyperthermia blanket. After 60 min of institution of mild hypothermia, SVR gradually improved along with normalization of cardiac output, decreased heart rate, and increased mean arterial blood pressure. Patient is rewarmed gradually in the next 4 hours. Arterial blood oxygenation also improved significantly (PaO 2 - 126 mmHg at FiO 2 of 0.5) with the use of hypothermia.

Read full article: Induced mild hypothermia in post-cardiopulmonary bypass vasoplegia syndrome (Ann Card Anaesth, Year : 2009, Volume : 12, Issue : 1 , Page : 49-52)