CEREBRAL-DYSFUNCTION AFTER CORONARY-ARTERY BYPASS-GRAFTING DONE WITH MILD OR MODERATE HYPOTHERMIA

Objective: Ninety-nine patients undergoing elective coronary artery by pass grafting were enrolled in a prospective, randomized study to eval uate the incidence of cerebral dysfunction after ''mild'' or ''moderat e'' hypothermia during cardiopulmonary bypass. Methods: Patients were evaluated before and after operation before hospital discharge and in some cases at follow-up at least 6 weeks later with a complete neurolo gic examination (85 patients) and a battery of standard neuropsychomet ric tests (86 patients). Results: Postoperative changes detected by ne urologic examination consisted of the appearance of new primitive refl exes in both groups, No statistically significant differences in incid ence were found. The neuropsychometric performances of the two groups were statistically similar by either event-rate or group-rate analysis . Conclusions: There is no detectable difference in postoperative cere bral dysfunction in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graftin g who are supported by cardiopulmonary bypass with either mild or mode rate hypothermia.