[Retrograde continuous cold blood cardioplegia for combined aortic valve replacement and coronary artery bypass...

Efficacy of retrograde continuous cold blood cardioplegia (RCBC) during aortic valve replacement combined with coronary bypass grafting was studied. Forty patients underwent elective aortic valve replacement, either combined with coronary bypass grafting (7 patients: group I), or isolated (33 patients: group II) using RCBC between 1996 and 1999 were analyzed retrospectively. Aortic cross clamp time was significantly prolonged in group I (150 +/- 33 min) compared to group II (109 +/- 32 min). The postoperative peak creatine kinase-MB levels were similar in both groups (73.3 +/- 23.9 versus 97.6 +/- 88.7 ng/ml). The doses of dopamine and dobutamine administered during 24 hours after surgery did not differ between the two groups (7.5 +/- 3.9 versus 6.5 +/- 5.5 mg/kg). The early (< 30-day) mortality was 0 in group I, and 3.0% in group II. These results suggest that RCBC is a safe method of myocardial protection in patients undergoing aortic valve replacement combined with coronary artery bypass grafting.