The safety and usefulness of cool head-warm body perfusion in aortic surgery.

Objective: To determine the safety and usefulness of antegrade hypothermic cerebral perfusion in conjunction with mild hypothermic (tepid) visceral perfusion (so-called cool head-warm body perfusion; CHWB) in aortic surgery; the clinical outcomes and perioperative data on this new technique were retrospectively analyzed.

Methods: From January 1990 to March 1999, 59 patients underwent ascending aorta or aortic arch surgery using antegrade selective cerebral perfusion (SCP). Three perfusion techniques, differentiated by perfusion temperature, were used, those being deep hypothermia (DH; nasopharyngeal temperature of 20 degrees C, n=14), moderate hypothermia (MH; nasopharyngeal temperature of 28 degrees C, n=17) and CHWB (nasopharyngeal temperature of 25 degrees C and bladder temperature of 32 degrees C, n=28).

Initial experience with cool head, warm body perfusion in aortic arch surgery.

Background: Hypothermia has been an essential technique in aortic arch surgery for protecting the brain. To reduce the adverse effect caused by hypothermia, we modified the perfusion technique in aortic arch surgery. Initial results using this modified technique are reviewed.

Clinical application of power Doppler imaging to visualize coronary arteries in human beings.

Supplementation of angiographic information during bypass procedures is an attractive goal for the echocardiographic researcher. Compared with color flow mapping, power Doppler imaging is superior in terms of identifying small vessels and noise suppression because of the use of Doppler signal strength for imaging. Although power Doppler imaging does not provide information about flow velocity or its direction, it does show detailed vessel flow in a static organ.