NEUROLOGICAL OUTCOME IN CORONARY-ARTERY SURGERY WITH AND WITHOUT CARDIOPULMONARY BYPASS

Introduction - The neurological complications of coronary artery surge ry with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) have been extensively studied, bu t to our knowledge those without CPB (NCPB) have not been defined. Pat ients & methods - We prospectively examined 81 patients, before and up to seven days after surgery, to compare the neurological morbidity be tween patients subjected to coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surger y with and without CPB. We analyzed demographic variables, risk factor s and neurological examination including neuropsychological (NPS) test s using chi-square and non-parametric analysis (Mann-Whitney and Krusk al-Wallis). Results - Forty-eight patients (34M; median age = 62 yrs; median number of grafts = 3 and median total surgery duration = 300 mi n) operated with CPB and 33 without CPB (23M; median age = 64 yrs; med ian number of grafts = 2 and median total surgery duration = 240 min) differed only in relation to number of grafts (p = 0.0001) and surgery duration (p = 0.0001). Conclusion - We found no difference in early n eurological outcome in patients subjected to CABG with or without CPB.