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Ann Thorac Surg 1999;68:1252-1256
© 1999 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
a Second Department of Surgery, Osaka City University Medical School, Osaka, Japan
Address reprint requests to Dr Kumano, Second Department of Surgery, Osaka City University Medical School, 1-5-7 Asahimachi, Abeno-ku, Osaka 545-0051, Japan
| Abstract |
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Methods. Twenty-four patients who had elective cardiac operations were perfused using a circuit coated with covalently bonded heparin. Twelve patients received 300 U/kg of heparin and the remaining 12 patients received 150 U/kg. Blood was obtained for the measurement of thrombin-antithrombin III complexes, fibrinopeptide A, plasmin-alpha 2 plasmin inhibitor complexes, and D-dimer preoperatively; after heparin administration; 10, 60, and 90 minutes after the start of bypass; after protamine administration; and 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 hours after the end of bypass.
Results. Preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative variables including postoperative bleeding were not significantly different between the two groups. Further, there were no complications in either group. No significant differences between the two groups were noted for any hematologic index at any time point.
Conclusions. Reduced systemic heparinization combined with a heparin-coated cardiopulmonary bypass circuit is biochemically and clinically safe but does not reduce postoperative bleeding.
| Introduction |
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Thrombin-antithrombin III complex (TAT) was measured as an index of coagulation in some of those reports [4, 8]. However, measurements of TAT do not necessarily reflect fibrinogenesis, and might not be suitable as an index of coagulation. In this study, we measured indices of the coagulofibrinolytic system (including fibrinopeptide A, FPA) that directly reflect fibrinogenesis in patients who had heparin-coated CPB. In addition, we examined the increase in the risk of thrombosis attributable to the use of a lower dose of heparin.
| Patients and methods |
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Anesthesia
All patients were medicated with morphine sulfate and scopolamine hydrobromide by intramuscular injection 1 hour before the induction of anesthesia. Anesthesia was induced and maintained with fentanyl and midazolam, and muscle relaxation was achieved with pancuronium bromide and vecuronium bromide. After endotracheal intubation, patients received mechanical ventilation with 100% oxygen. Standard monitoring methods (electrocardiography, radial arterial pressure monitoring, central venous-pulmonary arterial pressure monitoring, urinary output, and rectal and skin temperature monitoring) were used for all patients.
Cardiopulmonary bypass
All components of the CPB circuit were coated with covalently bonded heparin (Carmeda Bioactive Surface; Medtronic Inc, Anaheim, CA). The CPB circuit consisted of a hollow-fiber membrane oxygenator (Maxima model CB 1380), a soft-shell venous reservoir (Maxima model CB 1386), a cardiotomy reservoir (model CB 1351), a 40-µm arterial filter (model CBM-40) (all four components were produced by Medtronic), and a centrifugal pump (Bio-Pump model BP-80; Medtronic BioMedicus, Minneapolis, MN). The circuits were primed with a mixture of 1300 mL of lactated Ringers solution, 250 mL of human serum albumin (250 mg/mL), 200 mL of mannitol (200 mg/mL), and 100 mL of sodium bicarbonate (84 mg/mL). Standard ascending aortic cannulation (6.5-mm High Flow Aortic Arch Cannula model 12325; Sarns 3M Health Care, Ann Arbor, MI) and right atrial cannulation (DLP 34/48 F two-stage venous cannula; DLP Inc, Grand Rapids, MI) were done.
Before aortic cannulation, 12 patients were randomly assigned to receive a 300 U/kg dose of bovine heparin (high-dose group), and the remaining 12 patients were assigned to receive a 150 U/kg dose of bovine heparin (low-dose group). During systemic heparinization, the activated clotting time (ACT) was measured using a Hemochron 801 (International Technidyne, Edison, NJ). The ACT was kept at 400 seconds or above in the high-dose group and 300 to 400 seconds in the low-dose group by the administration of more heparin during CPB as required. While the patient was fully heparinized and on CPB, a cardiotomy suction device was used to return pericardial blood. At all other times during the operation, a cell-saving device (Haemonetics Cell Saver 5 model 2005, Haemonetics Inc, Braintree, MA) was used.
During CPB, a nonpulsatile flow of 2.4 L/m2 per minute was maintained, and moderate systemic hypothermia (rectal temperature, 32°C) was initiated. The mean arterial pressure was maintained between 50 and 80 mm Hg during CPB. The hematocrit value was maintained at more than 16% during CPB, with blood transfusions as necessary. The left ventricle was vented by cannulation via the right superior pulmonary vein. After the aorta was cross-clamped, cold crystalloid cardioplegic solution was administered in an antegrade fashion and then retrograde to arrest the heart. Topical cooling with ice slush was used during the infusion of the cardioplegic solution to maintain myocardial hypothermia.
Patients were weaned from CPB with inotropic support. After termination of CPB, heparin was neutralized with an equivalent dose of protamine sulfate. If necessary, additional protamine was administered to reestablish the preoperative ACT. Blood lost postoperatively that was collected by mediastinal and pleural chest tubes was not autotransfused. Aprotinin was not used during this study.
Data collection and measurements
Intraoperative variables including the duration of aortic cross-clamping, the duration of CPB, initial heparin dose, and total protamine dose were recorded. The amount of blood lost postoperatively during the first 24 hours through mediastinal and pleural chest tubes was recorded. Blood samples were obtained from a radial arterial catheter or the arterial side of the extracorporeal circulation circuit at the following 11 times: before the induction of anesthesia; 5 minutes after heparin administration but before the initiation of CPB; 10, 60, and 90 minutes after the start of CPB; 5 minutes after protamine administration (10 minutes after the end of CPB); and 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 hours after the end of CPB.
The hematocrit was measured with an automatic cell counter (Coulter MicroDiff 18; Coulter Inc, Miami, FL). Plasma was separated from blood cells by centrifugation at 3,000 x g for 10 minutes, and stored at -70°C until analysis. Fibrinopeptide A [11] and plasmin-alpha 2 plasmin inhibitor complex (PIC) [12] were measured by enzyme immunoassays. Thrombin-antithrombin III complex [13] and D-dimer [14] were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Values obtained during CPB and 5 minutes after protamine administration were corrected for hemodilution and normalized to the hematocrit before the operation.
Statistical analysis
Data were analyzed using standard computer software (Statview 4.11 and Super ANOVA 1.11; Abacus Concepts, Berkeley, CA). All results are reported as the mean ± standard deviation. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for the comparison of preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative values between groups. A two-factor repeated-measures analysis of variance was done to evaluate differences between the groups. If significant differences were found, the Wilcoxon rank-sum test was applied to comparisons within groups and the Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparisons between groups. A p value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
| Results |
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-dimer
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| Comment |
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To assess changes in the coagulation factors with reduced systemic heparinization during CPB, determination of FPA as well as TAT is necessary. In previous reports, TAT has been measured during CPB with reduced systemic heparinization, but FPA has not [4, 8]. Heparin does not have any inherent anticoagulant activity. Rather, it accelerates TAT formation by binding the serine protease inhibitor antithrombin III to thrombin. Consequently, heparin inhibits the effect of thrombin on fibrinogen, resulting in anticoagulation. In accord with this mechanism of action, TAT values reflect the generation of thrombin but not of fibrin. Therefore, it is impossible to evaluate the coagulation system based solely on the determination of TAT. In contrast, FPA is produced from the cleavage of fibrinogen by thrombin, and therefore reflects fibrinogenesis. In determining the risk of thrombosis, measuring the generation of fibrin is important, and changes in FPA must be quantified.
In the present study, the concentration of FPA increased slightly with the initiation of CPB but did not increase further during CPB, in contrast to TAT. These changes suggest that fibrinogenesis remains in an acceptable range, even with reduced systemic heparinization. In agreement with other reports [2, 4, 8, 10], we found that TAT continued to increase after the initiation of CPB. This effect appears to result from thrombins rapid binding to the heparin-antithrombin III complex, thereby suppressing the effect on fibrinogen. The finding of no difference in the changes in TAT between the two groups suggests that this reaction is not affected by the level of systemic heparinization. Although FPA increased during CPB in both groups, the FPA concentration was much lower than after the administration of protamine. Therefore, it can be said that fibrinogenesis did not increase, even when the dose of systemic heparin was reduced. Clinically, no complications occurred. On the basis of those findings, we conclude that the use of a heparin-coated CPB circuit with reduced systemic heparinization is biochemically and clinically safe.
Several reasons could account for why the amount of postoperative bleeding did not decrease with reduced heparinization in the present study. First, we studied a small number of patients. A significant decrease in blood loss was found only in previous studies that included a large number of patients [4, 5, 7]. In contrast, no significant decrease in blood loss has been observed in studies of small numbers of patients [6, 810, 15]. An insufficient reduction in the heparin dose might also be responsible for the lack of a decrease in blood loss. However, a greater reduction in the heparin dose was not considered because of the aspiration of pericardial blood using a cardiotomy suction device during systemic heparinization. Specifically, it has been reported that there is a tenfold higher concentration of coagulating substances in pericardial blood compared with circuit blood [16], and an extreme reduction in the heparin dose could be dangerous.
Increased bleeding after cardiac operations might also result from acceleration of fibrinolytic activity after CPB. It has been reported that postoperative bleeding is strongly affected by postoperative fibrinolytic activity [17]. In the present study, although TAT and FPA increased rapidly after protamine administration and then rapidly decreased, high concentrations of PIC and D-dimer persisted for several hours after CPB. If we assume that the effect of increased fibrinolytic activity on postoperative bleeding is great, then decreased postoperative bleeding cannot be achieved with a reduction of the heparin dose unless postoperative fibrinolysis also is inhibited.
It has been reported that heparin-coated CPB circuits not only improves thromboresistance but also increases biocompatibility and suppresses the activation of complement components and granulocytes [9, 15]. In addition, use of heparin-coated CPB circuits also inhibits the release of cytokines [18], prevents respiratory disorders [19], and improves the postoperative course [5, 20]. Adverse effects should decrease further with the reduction in the systemic heparin dose because of a reduction in the required protamine dose.
Our conclusions are limited because our sample was small and we had unequal distributions of operative procedures and gender between groups. Moreover, our conclusions are all based on tests of the hypothesis with nonsignificant results. Therefore, larger prospective randomized studies will be necessary.
| References |
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