No abstract

Centrifugal pumps have become important devices for cardiopulmonary bypass and circulatory assistance. Five types of centrifugal pumps are clinically available in Japan. To evaluate the blood trauma caused by centrifugal pumps, a comparative hemolysis study was performed under identical conditions. In vitro hemolysis test circuits were constructed to operate the BioMedicus BP-80 (Medtronic, BioMedicus), Sarns Delphin (Sarns/3M Healthcare), Isoflow (St. Jude Medical [SJM]), HPM-15 (Nikkiso), and Capiox CX-SP45 (Terumo). The hemolysis test loop consisted of two 1.5 m lengths of polyvinyl chloride tubing with a 3/8-inch internal diameter, a reservoir with a sampling port, and a pump head. All pumps were set to flow at 6 L/min against the total pressure head of 120 mm Hg. Experiments were conducted simultaneously for 6 h at room temperature (21 degrees C) with fresh bovine blood. Blood samples for plasma-free hemoglobin testing were taken, and the change in temperature at the pump outlet port was measured during the experiment. The mean pump rotational speeds were 1,570, 1,374, 1,438, 1,944, and 1,296 rpm, and the normalized indexes of hemolysis were 0.00070, 0.00745, 0.00096, 0.00066, 0.00090 g/100 L for the BP-80, Sarns, SJM, Nikkiso, and Terumo pumps, respectively. The change in temperature at the pump outlet port was the least for the Nikkiso pump (1.8 degrees C) and the most with the SJM pump (3.8 degrees C). This study showed that there is no relationship between the pump rotational speed (rpm) and the normalized index of hemolysis in 5 types of centrifugal pumps. The pump design and number of impellers could be more notable factors in blood damage.

Coronary snaring resulted in coronary endothelial injury, which was ameliorated by using elastic sutures instead of non-elastic sutures. Non-humidified gas insufflation made blood cells deposited and endothelial cells delaminated with time. Humidified gas insufflation attenuated these adverse effects. Heparin and dipyridamole-added humidification had potential advantage in terms of reducing deposited blood cells on the endothelium over simple humidification.

Ascending aortic replacement for octogenarians with acute type A aortic dissection was successfully performed, resulting in satisfactory early and midterm survival. Aggressive surgical treatment is mandatory for improving the outcome in octogenarians with acute type A aortic dissection.

Mediastinal hematoma extending along the pulmonary artery is a rare complication of Stanford type A classic (double-barreled) aortic dissection. Rupture from the posterior aspect of the aortic root penetrates the shared adventitia of the aorta and pulmonary artery. From this location, hematoma can spread along the adventitial planes of the pulmonary arteries out into the lungs. We report a case of ruptured intramural hematoma of the aorta (IMH) extending along the pulmonary artery. To our knowledge, this finding in patients with IMH has not been reported in the literature.