[The complications of open mitral commissurotomy under moderate hypothermia]

A comparative assessment of the postoperative period in 212 patients was made. Open mitral commissurotomy was performed under conditions of hypothermia without perfusion. Operations were fulfilled on 82 patients under conditions of craniocerebral hypothermia (the first group of patients, lethality 3.6%), on 130 patients under conditions of general moderate hypothermia (the second group, lethality 3.1%). Complications in the groups in question were not substantially different, although the amount of patients without complications was more in the first group (75.6%) than in the second group (44.6%). Complications after open mitral commissurotomy under conditions of hypothermia without perfusion were not specific for the methods under study and are known to occur after any cardiosurgical procedures. Open mitral commissurotomy performed under conditions of both general and craniocerebral moderate hypothermia was followed by few dangerous complications and not high lethality. Using these two variants of moderate hypothermia allows the completely adequate performance of open mitral commissurotomy to be fulfilled both in planned and in emergency operative interventions.