Warm blood hyperkalaemic reperfusion ('hot shot') prevents myocardial substrate derangement in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery.

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial looks at Bicarbonates.

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether this effect could be reversed by complementing cold blood cardioplegia with a short terminal exposure of warm blood hyperkalaemic cardioplegia ('hot shot').

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are middle-aged adults, both men and women.

Thirty-five patients undergoing primary elective coronary revascularisation were randomized to one of two different techniques of myocardial protection.

In the hot shot group (n = 18) this was supplemented with a short exposure to hyperkalaemic warm blood cardioplegia prior to removal of the cross clamp.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Bicarbonates and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

In the cold blood group (n = 17) myocardial protection was induced using antegrade hyperkalaemic cold blood cardioplegic solution.

Intracellular substrates (ATP and amino acids) were measured in left ventricular biopsies collected 5 min after institution of cardiopulmonary bypass, after 30 min of ischaemic arrest and 20 min after reperfusion.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Adenosine Triphosphate, Amino Acids, Bicarbonates, Blood, Calcium Chloride, Cardioplegic Solutions and Coronary Artery Bypass.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of Bicarbonates.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 3 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 1998 (European journal of cardio-thoracic surgery : official journal of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery), a journal based in Germany.

More context: all human trials.