Cardiac surgery with CPB causes a biphasic complement activation. The first phase occurs during CPB and results from the interaction of blood with the extracorporeal circuit. The second phase, which occurs during the first 5 days after surgery, involves CRP, is related to baseline CRP levels, and is associated with clinical symptoms such as arrhythmia.

During isovolemic hemodilution, the diminished oxygen supply was redistributed in favor of organs with a lower capacity to increase oxygen extraction. It is hypothesized that redirection of the oxygen supply within the intestines resulted in the preservation of oxygen consumption and mucosal muPo(2) compared with serosal muPo(2).

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In contrast to that of fresh RBCs, the transfusion of stored RBCs did not restore the microcirculatory oxygenation, possibly because of impaired O(2) unloading, but, except for CPD-stored RBCs, the storage-induced changes were not enough to impair intestinal VO(2) and mesenteric venous pO(2).