Reduced complement activation with heparin-coated oxygenator and tubings in coronary bypass operations.

Complement activation after cardiopulmonary bypass is correlated with postoperative organ dysfunction. Heparin coating of the entire blood-contact surface of the cardiopulmonary bypass circuit has proved to reduce complement activation in vitro. A membrane oxygenator and tubing setup coated with functionally active heparin was compared with an uncoated, otherwise identical setup in 20 patients undergoing routine coronary bypass operations.

[Accidental hypothermia. Risk factors in 29 patients with body temperature of 30 degrees C and below].

29 patients with a body temperature below 30 degrees C (mean 26.4 degrees C) were treated during the period 1982-88, both years inclusive. Eight patients were severely hypotensive (systolic blood pressure less than 60 mm Hg) and two had ventricular fibrillation on admission.

Effects of methylprednisolone on complement activation and leukocyte counts during cardiopulmonary bypass.

Generation of the complement activation products C3dg and terminal complement complex (TCC) and numerical changes in peripheral granulocytes (PMN) and lymphocytes were assessed in patients undergoing aortocoronary bypass surgery with extracorporeal circulation (ECC). Fluid from bronchial lavage performed preoperatively and 4 hours postoperatively was analyzed for granulocyte elastase activity and PMN content. Ten of the 20 patients received methylprednisolone (30 mg/kg b.

Surgical repair of isolated ventricular septal defects in the first year of life.

Since October 1975, 6 infants ranging in age from 5 to 9 months and weighing from 5.2 to 7.8 kg have been treated with primary closure of ventricular septal defect (VSD) at Ullevål Hospital.

On the technique of external cardiac compression.

ECG, arterial flow and pressure were recorded during external cardiac compression (ECC) in a patient whose heart had ceased beating. The patient was a 68-year-old female who remained comatose for 2 weeks after an emergency laparotomy for perforated diverticulitis of the colon. She developed sepsis, renal failure, and cardiopulmonary failure.

[Expiratory air diversion during general anesthesia (author's transl)].

A system for disposing of expiratory air containing volatile anaesthetic gases during anaesthesia is described. It consists of a reservoir bag and an adjustable suction connected to the outlet port of the anaesthesia machine or the nonbreathing valvel. A valve is incorporated which opens to the atmosphere if the reservoir bag should collaps completely, thus creating a slight vacumn in the system.