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Coronary sinus endothelin-1 concentrations after cardioplegic cardiac arrest
1Department of Anaesthesia, University of Innsbruck School of Medicine, Austria.
Background:
Data from animal experiments demonstrate that endothelin-1 is released into the coronary circulation during myocardial ischaemia and reperfusion, indicating that endothelin-1 may contribute to the pathophysiology of ischaemia and reperfusion. The aim of this study was to investigate the release of endothelin-1 into the coronary circulation during reperfusion of the human heart after hypothermic cardioplegic cardiac arrest.
Methods:
Endothelin-1 was measured in arterial, central venous and coronary sinus blood in 19 patients undergoing elective uncomplicated coronary artery bypass grafting before aortic crossclamping and 1, 5, 10 and 20 min after aortic declamping.
Results:
Endothelin-1 concentrations showed a slight non-significant increase over baseline values 1, 5, 10 and 20 min after aortic declamping. Endothelin-1 concentrations were not significantly higher in coronary sinus blood than in arterial blood at any time point measured, indicating no net release of endothelin-1 by the heart.
Conclusions:
Our results did not demonstrate endothelin-1 release into the coronary circulation after myocardial ischemia and reperfusion associated with hypothermic cardioplegic cardiac arrest.