THE EFFECT OF REPERFUSION PRESSURE ON EARLY OUTCOMES AFTER CORONARY-ARTERY BYPASS-GRAFTING - A RANDOMIZED TRIAL

Among 60 patients randomly assigned to a reperfusion pressure of 50 mm Hg or one of 75 mm Hg (30 mm Hg during the first 2 minutes in both gr oups) during initially hyperkalemic, controlled aortic root reperfusio n after coronary artery bypass grafting, no in-hospital deaths occurre d, no patient received an intraaortic balloon pump, no patient had new Q waves, and creatine kinase MB release was similar in the two groups . Median interval between the beginning of reperfusion and the return of rhythmic cardiac contractions in the 50 mm Hg group was 7 minutes; in the 75 mm Hg group, it was 5 minutes (P = 0.1). The initial reactiv e hyperemic response was greater in the 75 mm Hg group. There were no believable differences (P < 0.1) between the two groups in postoperati ve cardiac output, left and right atrial pressure, arterial blood pres sure, and prevalence of catecholamine administration.