BACKGROUND: Intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP)is well known for its hemodynamic benefit but still has its own complications.Proper use of IABP is the best way t o obt ai n maximum benefit with low complication rate. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Twenty one(men 10,female 11) patients were included in this study among the 100 consecutive adult cardiac surgery patients in our hospital.Eighteen(85.7%)were ischemic heart disease patients.They all received IABP therapy due to postcardiotomy cardiogenic shock according to the well-known indications.Their preoperative conditions,intraoperative factors including hemodynamics, postoperative conditions and IABP-related complications were analyzed. RESULT: Nineteen patients(90.5%)were successfully weaned from IABP.There were 2 patients of operative death and the mortality rate was 9.5%.Duration of IABP use was 40.7+/-24.3 hours.There were 2 cases(9.5%)of IABP-related vascular complications that required surgical intervention. CONCLUSION: We concluded that IABP could be used effectively and safely for postcardiotomy cardiogenic shock patients with low complication rate.
Adult ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Mortality ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Shock, Cardiogenic* ; Thoracic Surgery

It is well known that troponin T (below TnT) is present in the myocardial cells and released during myocardial damage, so it`s very specific enzyme to myocardium. Availability of cardiac specific TnT in assessing perioperatively myocardial damage was evaluated from 34 open heart surgery patients. They consisted of 11 ischemic heart, 13 acquired valvular heart and 10 congenital heart cases. Patients were divided into two groups, group A (patients with myocardial damage) and group B (patients without myocardial damage), according to the symptom of chest pain suspecting angina and the ECG findings of ST segment and T wave changes which show myocardial ischemia and injury. Serum TnT levels were measured by enzyme immunoassay method preoperatively, immediately postoperatively, postoperative day 1, day 2, day 3, and day 7. We observed and analyzed the changes of serum TnT levels in two groups and compared the serum TnT levels with CK-MB levels measured at the same time. In group A, serum TnT levels showed 1.37+/-0.26microgram/L, 3.16+/-0.66microgram/L, 2.39+/-0.74microgram/L, 2.49+/-0.76microgram/L, and 1.23+/-0.60microgram/L, immediate postoperatively, postoperatively day1, day2, day3, and day7, respectively. It was observed there were significant differences compared with those of group B (0.38+/-0.04microgram/L, 0.34+/-0.05microgram/L, 0.25+/-0.03microgram/L, 0.24+/-0.04microgram/L, and 0.11+/-0.03microgram/L) during identical periods (p<0.01). Serum CK-MB level in group A significantly elevated to 145.04+/-35.08 IU/L on the postoperative day 1 compared to group B (31.28+/-5.87 IU/L, p<0.05), However, it stiffly decreased from day 2 and returned to preoperative level at day 3. When serum TnT level more than 1.0microgram/L is thought to reflect myocardial damage, serum TnT had 100% of sensitivity and 87% of specificity in diagnosing the postoperative myocardial damage (p<0.01). I conclusion, serum TnT levels increased significantly at very early stage of myocardial damage and persisted much longer period than CK-MB. This suggests that serum TnT has more advantage and availability in assessing the perioperatively myocardial damage than any other tests.
Chest Pain ; Electrocardiography ; Heart* ; Humans ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Myocardial Infarction ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Myocardium ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Thoracic Surgery* ; Trinitrotoluene ; Troponin T* ; Troponin*

Percutaneous cardiopulmonary support (PCPS) is accepted as a very helpful mechanical support available for patients with cardiogenic shock unresponsive to medical treatment and intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP). Although the indication criteria or guidelines for the application of PCPS have not been established, several reports demonstrate that the early initiation of PCPS allows for good clinical outcomes in patients suffering cardiogenic shock. We experienced two patients that required PCPS before and after emergent cardiotomy to correct ventricular septal defect and left ventricular rupture due to myocardial ischemia, respectively. Herein, we report these cases to emphasize that the early application of PCPS is essential to improve the clinical outcomes in patients with severe cardiogenic shock.
Heart Septal Defects, Ventricular ; Humans ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Rupture ; Shock, Cardiogenic ; Stress, Psychological ; Thoracic Surgery

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are multipotent cells able to differentiate into multiple lineages including cardiomyocytes and vascular endothelial cells under in vitro culture conditions. In vivo studies have shown that MSC can facilitate angiogenesis, and they localize to the site of ischemic injury which block or reverse the pathologic process. All the data suggest that MSC may be a promising strategy in the treatment of ischemic heart diseases. In recent years, more and more reports demonstrated that researchers have made enormous advances in this field. This review focuses on the angiogenesis and therapeutic applications of MSC derived from human bone marrow, including basic biological features of MSC, role of MSC in angiogenesis, preclinical study of MSC therapy in ischemic heart disease and prospect of MSC application in this disease.
Humans ; Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation ; methods ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; cytology ; Myocardial Ischemia ; surgery ; Neovascularization, Physiologic

To compare the effects on hemodynamics of univentricular support with that of biventricular support on experimental ischemic biventricular dysfunction so as to provide experimental basis for clinical usage of the Luo-Ye pump. Eight canines were placed with a left ventricular assist device (LVAD; left atrial-aorta bypass) and a right ventricular assist device (RVAD; right atrial-pulmonary artery bypass). Left anterior descending coronary artery(LAD) was ligated, three minutes later, the proximal of right coronary artery (RCA) was ligated to establish animal madel of acute ischemic biventricular dysfunction. First start the LVAD, and then RVAD was started five minutes later. The hemodynamic data were recorded including central venous pressure(CVP), cardiac output (CO), mean artery pressure(MAP), and pulmonary artery pressure(PAP) and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP). During biventricular assist devices (BVAD) the hemodynamics were improved remarkably, MAP increased from 37.4 +/- 8.8 mmHg to 84.2 +/- 9.7 mmHg (P < 0.01) (the normal level), CO increased from 0.82 +/- 0.1 L/min to 1.33 +/- 0.12 L/min (P < 0.01), CVP decreased from 14.6 +/- 2.3 cmH2O to 4.2 +/- 1.5 cmH2O (P < 0.01), PCWP decreased significantly from 14 +/- 3.9 mmHg to 1.6 +/- 0.9 mmHg. These data suggest that LVAD during biventricular dysfunction could not improve the hemodynamics to normal level. Howere BVAD could increase CO and MAP to normal level and decrease heart work and myocardial oxygen consumption, which could help to improve myocardial metabolism and myocardial function. Therefore, BVAD is the first choice in treating severe biventricular dysfunction which was not respond to drug therapy and intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP).
Animals ; Dogs ; Heart-Assist Devices ; Hemodynamics ; Myocardial Ischemia ; complications ; Ventricular Dysfunction ; etiology ; physiopathology ; surgery

From Feb. 1985 to Aug. 1996, 450 patients underwent open heart surgery with hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass. In 450 cases of open heart surgery, 222 cases(49.3%) were congenital heart diseases and 228 cases(50.7%) were acquired heart diseases. In 222 cases of congenital heart diseases, there were 201 cases of acyanotic heart disease and 21 cases of cyanotic heart diseases. Among the 228 cases of acquired heart diseases, most cases were valvular heart diseases in which 206 valves were implanted. There were 32 cases of ischemic heart disease and the average graft anastomoses were 2.37 sites per operation. The operative mortality of congenital and acquired disease was 9.0% and 10.1% respectively and then overall mortality rate was 9.6%.
Cardiopulmonary Bypass ; Heart Diseases ; Heart Valve Diseases ; Heart* ; Humans ; Mortality ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Thoracic Surgery* ; Transplants

The effects of three different intubating doses of vecuronium were investigated using the refined priming principle. Sixty patients were studied. Twenty patients were each allocated randomly into three groups I, II, and III and received 0.12, 0.15, and 0.20 mg/kg intubating dose of vecuronium respectively. The priming dose of 0.01 mg/kg and the priming interval of 4 minutes were the same for all groups. The degree of neuromuscular block were determined by the train-of-four (TOF) ratios with the use of the TOF-GUARD nerve stimulator. Onset time (from injection of the intubating dose to 95% and 100% suppression of the TOF), clinical duration (return of the first twitch from maximum block to 25% of the TOF), and intubation conditions were determined. The onset time to 95% and 100% of the TOF were significantly shorter as the intubating dose of vecuronium were increased (at 0.12 mg/kg, onset was 151 +/- 15s; at 0.15 mg/kg, onset was 97 +/- 16s; and at 0.20 mg/kg, onset was 69 +/- 10s). The clinical duration was significantly increased between group I (60 +/- 11 min) and both groups II (77 +/- 15 mm) and III (74 +/- 17 mm), but not significant between groups II and III. The changes in the heart rate and mean arterial pressure in all groups were not significant. In conclusion, a priming dose of 0.01 mg/kg followed by a larger intubating dose (0.20 mg/kg) four minutes later provides an excellent intubation condition within 69 +/- 10s with no clinically significant hemodynamic changes. (
Human ; Middle Aged ; Adult ; Young Adult ; Adolescent ; MYOCARDIAL ISCHEMIA ; SURGERY ; VECURONIUM BROMIDE ; NEUROMUSCULAR BLOCKADE ; NEUROMUSCULAR AGENTS

BACKGROUND: Epinephrine is frequently administered during cardiac surgery. The vascular response to epinephrine might be altered by ischemia and reperfusion, since altered vascular control has been demonstrated even after a short period of ischemia. To test the hypothesis, the effects of epinephrine on regional myocardial contractility, coronary blood flow (CBF) and myocardial oxygen consumption (MVO2) were investigated before and after ischemia in an open-chest canine myocardium. METHODS: Fifteen dogs were acutely instrumented under enflurane anesthesia to measure aortic and left ventricular pressures, pulmonary and left anterior descending (LAD) blood flows via Doppler flowmeter, and subendocardial segment length in the region supplied by LAD. Incremental doses of epinephrine (4, 10, 20, 30 ng/mL of LAD flow) were infused directly into LAD before (normal) and after a 15 min of LAD occlusion and subsequent 30 min-reperfusion (stunned). Segment shortening (%SS), as an index of regional myocardial contractility was evaluated. Simultaneous arterial and coronary venous contents of oxygen and lactate were measured during epinephrine (0.0, 4, 10, and 30 ng/mL) infusion. Effectiveness of metabolic vasodilation was determined from oxygen extraction ratio (EO2). RESULTS: Epinephrine infusions before ischemia resulted in dose-dependent increases in %SS and MVO2. These changes were accompanied by excessive increases in CBF, resulting in decreased EO2. After the ischemia and reperfusion, %SS was depressed and lactate extraction (Elac) was reduced, but similar mechanical responses to epinephrine were observed. However, in the stunned myocardium, CBF increased in parallel with increases in MVO2, resulting in unaltered EO2. Epinephrine infusion further decreased Elac dose-dependently in stunned myocardium. Heart rate and left ventricular systolic and diastolic pressures were little but similarly affected during epinephrine infusions before and after myocardial ischemia. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that epinephrine exerts positive inotropic effects in both normal and stunned myocardium, and that epinephrine causes direct coronary vasodilation in normal myocardium, but this effect is abolished in stunned myocardium in dogs. It is also suggested that epinephrine infusion depresses Elac dose-dependently in stunned myocardium.
Anesthesia ; Animals ; Dogs* ; Enflurane ; Epinephrine* ; Flowmeters ; Heart Rate ; Ischemia ; Lactic Acid ; Metabolism* ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Myocardial Stunning* ; Myocardium ; Oxygen ; Oxygen Consumption ; Reperfusion ; Thoracic Surgery ; Vasodilation ; Ventricular Pressure

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In acute myocardial ischemia, the conduction velocity of action potential is decreased by several electrophysiological and physical factors. The ventricular activation time(VAT) is a time duration of electrical impulse propagating from endocardium to epicardium. The goal of this study is to determine whether the reduction in conduction velocity in acute myocardial ischemia can lead a change in VAT. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Thirty patient, 18 males and 12 females, who had received percutaneous balloon coronary angioplasty(PTCA) were enrolled. The mean age was 59 years old. A twelve lead surface electrocardiogram(ECG) were obtained before, during, 1 minute, 5 minutes, and 10 minutes after the PTCA as digitized data by using Cardiolab EP 4.1 program. The magnitude of the QRS wave was amplified 3 to 4 folds and the speed was increased to 200mm/sec in order to get the VAT easily and accurately. The data was the mean of three consecutive VATs. The number of vessel treated with PTCA included left anterior descending artery(12), left circumflex artery(9), and right coronary artery(9). Among twelve chronic stable angina, sixteen unstable angina, and two acute myocardial infarction patients, twenty six had single and four had two vessel diseases. RESULTS: The significant increase in VAT during PTCA compared to that before PTCA was observed in eight of 12 leads. In addition, the significant decrease in VAT of 1, 5, and 10 minutes after PTCA compared to that during PTCA were noted. Furthermore, 10 minutes after PTCA, VAT decreased significantly compared to that before PTCA. The leads did not show a significant change of VAT depending on target vessels. The ECG of 16 patients showed changes of the ST segment during PTCA. The changes of VAT were not related to the ST segment change. CONCLUSION: The conduction delay from endocardium to epicardium in acute myocardial ischemia was presented as a prolongation of VAT in surface ECG. In addition, the conduction delay was recovered within 5 minutes after relief of ischemia. Therefore, the changes of VAT can possibly be used as one of the noninvasive parameters of myocardial ischemia.
Action Potentials ; Angina, Stable ; Angina, Unstable ; Electrocardiography ; Endocardium ; Female ; Humans ; Ischemia ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myocardial Infarction ; Myocardial Ischemia* ; Pericardium ; Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted

OBJECTIVETo investigate the chronic effects of intracoronary autologous bone marrow mononuclear cell (BM-MNCs) transplantation in patients with refractory heart failure (RIHF) after myocardial infarction.

METHODSThirty patients with RIHF (LVEF < 40%) were enrolled in this nonrandomized study, autologous BM-MNCs (5.0 +/- 0.7) x 10(7) were transplanted with via infarct-related coronary artery in 16 patients and 14 patients received standard medical therapy served as control. Baseline and follow up evaluations included complete clinical evaluations, plasma BNP, ANP, ET-1 measurements, echocardiography, PET, and Holter monitoring.

RESULTSBaseline characteristics were similar between the 2 groups. There were no major periprocedural complications. One patient developed ventricular premature contractions during cell infusion for several seconds and recovered spontaneously. Compared to pre-transplantation, plasma BNP and ET-1 significantly decreased and plasma ANP significantly increased at 7 days post transplantation; 6 minutes walking distance increased from (72.1 +/- 31.5) to (201.6 +/- 23.3) m (P < 0.01), LVEF increased 9.9% (P < 0.001) and FDG-PET revealed vital myocardium area increased (10.3 +/- 3.4)% (P < 0.01) at 3 months after BM-MNCs transplantation. At 6 months follow up, the NYHA class improved from (3.4 +/- 0.1 to 2.4 +/- 0.2, P < 0.001) and no patient died and 1 patient rehospitalized due to lower extremities edema. In control group, LVEF decreased 7.2% compared to baseline (P < 0.001) and was significantly lower than transplantation group at 3 months (P < 0.001). At 6 months follow up, the NYHA class increased from (3.5 +/- 0.1 to 3.9 +/- 0.1, P < 0.05), 2 patients died and 10 patients rehospitalized due to aggravated heart failure.

CONCLUSIONPresent study demonstrates that intracoronary transplantation of autologous BM-MNCs is safe and effective for treating patients with RIHF after myocardial infarction.

Bone Marrow Transplantation ; Coronary Vessels ; surgery ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart Failure ; complications ; Humans ; Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation ; Monocytes ; transplantation ; Myocardial Infarction ; surgery ; Myocardial Ischemia ; complications ; Transplantation, Autologous