[Anesthesia considerations in heart valve diseases (including valve reconstruction and replacement)].
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to K Skarvan.
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Transesophageal echocardiography is a new, semi-invasive technique for the examination of the heart and the aorta. Within 10-15 minutes it is possible to obtain good pictures of the anatomy and function of the heart. Diagnostic indications are native and prosthetic valvular heart disease; the method is particularly suitable for visualization of endocarditic vegetations, evaluation of embolic events or congenital heart disease and assessment of aortic dissection. In the intensive care unit transesophageal echocardiography is a new window to the heart, yielding instantaneous information on cardiac status. For the anesthetist it is the first method to provide perioperative beat to beat analysis of ventricular function.
The effects of 50 mg aspirin combined with 400 mg dipyridamole were compared with those of standard anticoagulant therapy, in the prevention of aortocoronary vein bypass graft occlusion. Early graft occlusion in 249 patients, with 749 distal vein graft anastomoses, were angiographically assessed 11.5 +/- 2 days after surgery and were almost equal in both treatment groups. In half of the patients in each group, active treatment was replaced by placebo after 3 months. Repeat angiography after 1 year (360 +/- 24 days) showed that more new late graft occlusions occurred in patients with only 3 months active medication (either regimen). The incidence of major complications was significantly higher in patients treated with anticoagulants, with minor side-effects more common in the antiplatelet group. Thus, this antiplatelet drug regimen was as effective as standard anticoagulant therapy in the prevention of early and late bypass graft occlusion, but carried a significantly lower risk of severe complications. In addition, as replacement of active treatment by placebo after 3 months resulted in significantly more graft occlusions, antithrombotic treatment should be continued for at least one year after coronary artery bypass graft surgery.
To assess the diagnostic value of CK-MB determinations after CABG surgery to detect or exclude perioperative myocardial infarction, 228 consecutive patients were studied with serial ECGs, as well as pre- and postoperative left heart catheterization and thallium-201-scintigraphy. CK-MB values above or below 100 U/l had a sensitivity and specificity of 73% each. There was a linear correlation between CK-MB values and total ischemic time. Thus, an increasing amount of myocardium is lost with each additional minute of ischemia despite today's methods of myocardial protection. Due to its low diagnostic accuracy CK-MB seems not to be very helpful for the diagnosis of perioperative myocardial infarction.
Both surgical trauma and anesthesia have an important impact on the heart and its function. The operation affects the heart by sympathoadrenergic stress reaction, blood loss, and various surgical manipulations all of which challenge its functional reserve. Although anesthesia should protect the heart against the untoward effects of the operation, it may itself compromise cardiovascular function. The understanding of the complex interactions between surgery and anesthesia is essential for the perioperative management of the cardiovascular system. Taking these interactions into account ensures a safe, complication-free anesthesia even in patients with heart disease.
In a prospective randomised trial, 249 patients who had aortocoronary vein bypass surgery were assigned either to a platelet inhibitory drug regimen or to standard anticoagulant therapy. Treatment was replaced by placebo in half of the patients in each group after 3 months. The platelet inhibitory drug regimen--very low-dose aspirin combined with dipyridamole--was as effective as standard anticoagulant therapy to prevent early and late graft occlusion. Death, myocardial infarction, and severe bleeding occurred significantly more often in patients receiving anticoagulants, whereas mild drug-related gastrointestinal and cerebral side-effects were more common in patients taking platelet inhibitory drugs. Antithrombotic treatment should be continued for at least 1 year after coronary artery bypass graft surgery.
A transient depression of right ventricule (RV) function following aortocoronary bypass operation is a common event. Occasionally, RV failure may be responsible for postoperative low cardiac output syndrome, cardiogenic shock or intracardiac right-left shunt. Understanding and monitoring of RV function is essential for proper management of patients during and after aortocoronary bypass operation.
The effects of two bolus injections (0.2 mg kg-1) and two infusion rates (0.2 mg min-1 and 0.4 mg min-1) of diltiazem on global and regional left (LV) and right ventricular (RV) performance (ultrasonic dimension technique), on coronary (electromagnetic flow meters) and systemic haemodynamics, and on electrophysiology (PR, QRS, QTc intervals) were studied in eight open-chest dogs anaesthetized with droperidol and fentanyl. The two bolus injections of diltiazem resulted in plasma concentrations of 688 +/- 115 and 650 +/- 85 ng ml-1 (means +/- SE), respectively, and caused substantial decreases in systemic and coronary vascular resistances, and in aortic pressure, and increases in LV segment shortening, stroke volume and aortic flow. Electrophysiological variables were little affected. At the low infusion rate (plasma concentration 140 +/- 23 ng ml-1) coronary and systemic vasodilatation occurred, but global and regional RV and LV performance were little affected. PR interval increased by 15%. At the higher infusion rate (plasma concentration 282 +/- 33 ng ml-1) coronary and systemic vasodilatation were maintained. Aortic pressure decreased slightly. Whereas LV end-diastolic and end-systolic dimensions remained unchanged, they increased in the RV. In addition, the PR interval increased by 35%, and three animals developed atrioventricular block type I. The data indicate that diltiazem is a potent coronary and systemic vasodilator with little effect on global RV and LV performance. However, at a higher infusion rate RV dimensions clearly tend to increase, and conduction abnormalities develop.
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The effects of antiplatelet therapy (AP; dipyridamole 400 mg [beginning 2 days preoperatively] + aspirin 50 mg/day) and anticoagulation (AC) were compared prospectively in 251 patients with coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Two weeks postoperatively, 85.2% of AP and 81% of AC patients had all grafts patent with graft patency rates of 93.6% and 91.3% respectively (p = n.s.) Significant differences in favour of AP therapy were found in subgroups with multiple grafts and with low intraoperative graft flow. Up to 3 months postoperatively, severe complications occurred in 22 AC patients (11 bleedings) but only in 9 patients on AP therapy (p less than 0.01). Overall, AP therapy should therefore be preferred to AC in patients with CABG surgery.
The effects of alinidine on systemic and pulmonary haemodynamics and the ECG were studied in 8 patients early after open heart surgery as a double-blind cross-over comparison between alinidine and placebo. Placebo had no effect on any of the measured variables. Alinidine given as an i.v. bolus (10 mg) followed by an infusion (10 mg h-1) was associated with alinidine plasma levels of 172 +/- 17 and 114 +/- 13, respectively, (+/- SE, ng ml-1) and decreased heart rate (-12%) and rate-pressure product (-14%) in all patients. While stroke volume index tended to increase, there were no changes in arterial, pulmonary and atrial pressures, cardiac index, and systemic and pulmonary vascular resistances. PR and QRS intervals of the ECG remained unaffected, and the QTc interval transiently decreased. Alinidine appears to be a suitable drug for control of inappropriate sinus tachycardia in patients with heart disease undergoing surgery.
The effects of the calcium entry blocker diltiazem (iv loading dose 0.4 mg/kg, iv maintenance dose 0.4 mg/min) and subsequent isoflurane-induced hypotension to mean aortic pressures of 70 and 55 mmHg on global and regional right ventricular (RV) and left ventricular (LV) performance (ultrasonic dimension technique), on coronary (electromagnetic flow probes) and systemic hemodynamics, and on electrophysiologic parameters (PR, QRS, QTc intervals) were studied in eight open-chest dogs, anesthetized and paralyzed by continuous infusions of fentanyl and pancuronium. Diltiazem at a plasma concentration of 282 +/- 33 ng/ml (mean +/- SE) caused significant (P less than 0.05) increases in coronary blood flows, and decreases in coronary and systemic vascular resistances with only little effect on global and regional RV and LV function. However, the PR interval increased by 40%, and three animals developed II degrees atrioventricular block type I. At stable diltiazem plasma levels, administration of isoflurane caused dose-dependent decreases in myocardial segment shortening and stroke volume with unchanged LV or increased RV preload, and little changed RV or reduced LV afterload indicating myocardial depression. Coronary and systemic vascular resistances remained unaffected. At the higher concentration of isoflurane (mean inspired 1.3 +/- 0.2%), seven animals developed intermittent sinus node arrests with pauses up to 12 s followed by intermittent junctional escape or sinus rhythms. Similar interactions might develop in patients on diltiazem receiving isoflurane.
We studied the hemodynamic interaction between midazolam and alfentanil during induction of anaesthesia in 27 patients with coronary heart disease. Using alfentanil alone (93 +/- 6 micrograms/kg) the induction was associated with stable systemic haemodynamics but also with a pressure increase in pulmonary circulation, due to chest wall rigidity and respiratory acidosis. The administration of subhypnotic doses of midazolam (50 and 100 micrograms/kg) prior to alfentanil prevented chest wall rigidity and pulmonary vasoconstriction completely, suppressed the pressor response to intubation and reduced the dose of alfentanil required for induction. However the midazolam-alfentanil combination led to hypotension, which was primarily due to a decrease of peripheral systemic resistance. Thus the haemodynamic interaction between midazolam and alfentanil resembles the known interactions between other benzodiazepines and opiates, characterized by decreased sympathetic tone and suppressed baroreceptor reflex.
Heparin complexes calcium in vitro and possesses vasodilating properties when given as an intravenous bolus. To investigate the possibility that these hemodynamic effects could be related to the ability of heparin to induce hypocalcemia in vivo, we studied the response to a bolus of heparin, 300 IU/kg, in 20 patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass for cardiac operations. Ionized calcium decreased significantly after heparin administration, as did mean arterial pressure and systemic vascular resistance. In a further nine patients, 125 mg of calcium chloride was given immediately before the heparin bolus. It induced a small rise in calcium levels and maintained the mean arterial pressure at unchanged values. Our data confirm the vasodilating effect of an intravenous bolus of heparin and show that it is related to an acute lowering of ionized calcium levels. When calcium levels are not allowed to drop, the blood pressure is maintained at stable values. We advise slow injection of the heparin bolus and special attention to the ionized calcium levels before cardiopulmonary bypass.
During aorto-coronary bypass surgery, electromagnetic flow measurements of venous grafts were performed in 50 consecutive patients at rest and after stimulation with papaverine (2 mg) to assess whether early postoperative patency was predictable. The overall patency rate at day 9-11 was 95.4% (145/152 distal grafts; 118 proximal grafts). Flow in all bypass grafts averaged 52.5 +/- 31.4 ml/min and increased after papaverine stimulation by 46.9 +/- 32.2 ml/min (p less than 0.01). 5 of 6 grafts with a flow of less than 30 ml/min and without adequate flow increase after papaverine (less than 80%) were occluded. Grafts with a flow of greater than or equal to 30 ml/min or an increase of greater than or equal to 80% after papaverine, had a high short-time patency rate (98%). Thus, perioperative flow measurements combined with papaverine stimulation predicted early patency of single grafts with an accuracy of 95%.
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