The effect of limited rewarming and postoperative hypothermia on cognitive function in a rat cardiopulmonary bypass model.

Background: Clinical studies have failed to demonstrate significant benefits of hypothermia for the prevention of postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). One explanation for this might be that potentially injurious cerebral hyperthermia occurs during rewarming at the end of CPB, off-setting the protective benefits of hypothermia. In this study, we investigated the relative influence of CPB temperature, rewarming strategies, and postoperative temperature in a rat CPB model.