Affiliations: Department of Cardiac Surgery, University of Technology Dresden, Fetscherstraße 76, 01307 Dresden, Germany | Institute for Heart- and Circulation Research, Maria-Grollmußstraße 10, 02977 Hoyerswerda, Germany | Department for Clinical Haemostasiology and Transfusion Medicine, University of Saarland, 66421 Homburg/Saar, Germany
Note: [] Corresponding author: Dr. K. Matschke, MD, Heart Center Dresden University Hospital, Department of Cardiac Surgery, Fetscherstraße 76, D-01307 Dresden, Germany. Tel.: +49 351 450 1809; Fax: +49 351 450 1707; E-mail: k.matschke@herzzentrum-dresden.com.
Abstract: Background: Experimental data have shown the potential risk of cellular damage of the myocardium during extra corporeal circulation (ECC). The influence of ECC on myocardial oxygen tension however remained unclear. Therefore, the influence of ECC on the oxygen tension in a beating heart was investigated. Methods: In a pig animal model flexible pO2 microcatheters were positioned in the midmyocardium of the left ventricle and the skeletal muscle and tissue oxygen tension during ECC were monitored and compared with data of a control group without ECC. Results: ECC and unload of the heart caused a significantly higher increase of myocardial pO2 than in a non-ECC control group. Conclusion: Our findings show the beneficial effect of ECC on myocardial pO2. This may support the use of ECC in coronary artery bypass grafting because the potential myocardial injury due to ECC is not related to myocardial ischemia. On the contrary, myocardial pO2 was even increased during extracorporeal circulation in this study.
Keywords: Extra corporeal circulation, microcirculation, myocardium, left ventrical, tissue oxygen tension
