[Variability of heart rate after heart surgery under extracorporeal circulation: aortocoronary bypass or aortic valve...

The study of heart rate variability allows analysis of modulations of heart rate by the sympathetic vagal system. The authors studied the course of sinus variability by 24-hour Holter monitoring preoperatively, and on the 6th and 42nd postoperative day, in 25 patients undergoing coronary bypass graft (group I) and 10 patients undergoing aortic valve replacement (group II). Surgery was performed under cardiopulmonary bypass with selective antegrade cold crystalloid cardioplegia. The preoperative ejection fraction of these patients was 62% with a mean age of 59.5 years in group I and 61.5 years in group II. All temporal or spectral parameters were significantly decreased in the two groups on the sixth day (p < 0.05). Parameters which remain altered on D42 compared to baseline values were temporal parameters: pNN50 and rMSSD for group I and ASDNN for group II, with a tendency to return to baseline values, but with a higher mean heart rate in group II on D6 and D42 (p < 0.05). In the spectral domain, TP (total power of the spectrum) and LF (Low frequencies) remained decreased in both groups. A reversible alteration of sinus variability parameters was therefore observed in the two groups of patients. Other studies are necessary to define the mechanisms of these alterations, which are most probably related to catecholaminergic flooding related to CPB or partial vagal denervation by ischaemic or surgical damage to nerve structures.