Intravenous Contrast Material for Cardiac Computed Tomography: Results From the Open-label Multicenter, Multivendor Italian Registry of Contrast Material Use in Cardiac Computed Tomography.

Purpose: The Italian Registry of Contrast Material use in Cardiac Computed Tomography (iRCM-CCT) is a multicenter, multivendor, observational study on the use of contrast media (CM) in patients undergoing cardiac computed tomography (CCT). The aim of iRCM-CCT is to assess image quality and safety profile of intravenous CM compounds.

Materials And Methods: iRCM-CCT enrolled 1842 consecutive patients undergoing CCT (≥50 per site) at 20 cluster sites with the indication of suspected coronary artery disease.

Atrial natriuretic factor in normothermic and hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass.

Background: To evaluate the plasmatic changes of atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) during and after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) in normothermia and hypothermia.

Methods: Twenty-three patients (n = 23) undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery were randomly assigned to two groups. In Group I (n = 11), the patients underwent operation in normothermia; in Group II (n = 12), the operation was performed in hypothermia (26 degrees C).