[Prevention of edema during coronary perfusion with cardioplegic solution (author's transl)]

In arrested and with cardioplegic solutions perfused rabbit hearts the relation of perfusion-pressure and flow rate were examined, showing that edema of the myocardium can be avoided even using erythrocytes-free solutions by two measures. First the solution has to contain colloid active agents and secondly the perfusion pressure has to be significantly below the colloid-osmotic pressure. Furthermore the edema can be avoided by adding 300 mg 6-methyl prednisolone/1. If no attention is paid to these facts the coronary flow decreases constantly due to developing interstitial and interfibrillar edema and degenerative changes of endothelial cells of the capillaries, which even can undergo necrosis. These changes were not seen using steroids. On the contrary here we found by densitometry and increased number of lysosomes. These findings show the effectiveness of corticosteroids in stabilizing the cell membranes.