CLINICAL USE OF CENTRIFUGAL PUMPS AND THE ROLLER-PUMP IN OPEN-HEART-SURGERY - A COMPARATIVE-EVALUATION

Centrifugal pumps have been used widely as the main pump in open heart surgery to reduce damage to blood elements and to reduce the activati on of the coagulation system. The purpose of this study was the evalua tion and comparison of the effects Of two types of centrifugal pumps a nd of one type of roller pump on blood elements, the coagulation syste m, complements,:and immunoglobulins. Two types of centrifugal pumps (L ifestream; St. Jude Medical, Chelmsford, Massachusetts; and BP-80; Med tronic, BioMedicus, Inc., Eden Prairie, Minnesota, U.S.A.) and one rol ler pump (Mera Co.) were used separately as the main pump for cardiopu lmonary bypass (CPB) in 29 patients. Platelet counts, lactate dehydrog enase, antithrombin III, thrombin-antithrombin complex (TAT), compleme nts (C3, C4, and CH50) and immunoglobulins G, A, and M values were mea sured before and after CPB and compared. Values, except those for TAT, showed no significant difference among the three groups. The TAT valu es increased less in each of the centrifugal pump groups than in the r oller pump group. This finding suggests that thrombin synthesis might be suppressed by the use of a centrifugal pump.