The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol 51, 833-835, Copyright © 1991 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Agglutination of blood cardioplegia by cold-reacting autoantibodies
WL Holman, SH Smith, R Edwards and ST Huang
Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Alabama, Birmingham.
Cold-reacting autoantibodies occasionally occur in patients requiring
cardiac operations. This report describes the clinical course of 1 patient
with cold-reacting autoantibodies and intracoronary agglutination of the
blood cardioplegia solution. Observations made in vivo and in vitro are
considered in discussing recommendations for the management of
extracorporeal circulation and cardioplegic arrest in patients with
clinically silent cold-reacting autoantibodies.