Improved red blood cell survival after cardiac operations with administration of urea during cardiopulmonary bypass

Journal Article · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1985 · J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5828351

Roberts, D; Bake, B; William-Olsson, G

The plasma hemoglobin and red blood cell survival (half-life of /sup 51/Cr) was studied in 48 patients undergoing single valve replacement or coronary artery bypass graft. Urea or placebo was administered during cardiopulmonary bypass in a prospective, randomized, double-blind manner to test the potential effect on mechanical hemolysis. The mean plasma hemoglobin level at the end of extracorporeal circulation was significantly lower in the urea-treated groups (coronary artery bypass 342 mg/L; valve replacement 364 mg/L) than in the control groups (coronary artery bypass 635 mg/L, valve replacement 518 mg/L. The half-life of /sup 51/Cr was significantly longer in the urea-treated patients (coronary artery bypass 18 days; valve replacement 16 days) than in the control groups (coronary artery bypass 12.4 days; valve replacement 12.7 days) but still below the normal reference value (29 +/- 4 days). The plasma hemoglobin returned to near normal values (50 mg/L) the day after operation (day 1) and remained low with no differences between control and urea-treated groups. The total blood hemoglobin was followed for 2 weeks after operation and showed significantly less anemia in the urea-treated group. The lowest mean blood hemoglobin level was noted between days 5 and 9-114 (coronary artery bypass) and 107 (valve replacement) gm/L in the urea-treated patients compared to 92.3 gm/L in the control subjects. The reduction in the severity of the anemia led to less transfusion in the urea-treated patients (approximately 0.5 unit/patient) than in the control subjects (approximately 1 unit/patient) between days 3 and 14.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Goeteborg, Sahlgrenska Sjukhuset, Sweden
• OSTI ID: 5828351
• Journal Information: J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg.; (United States), Journal Name: J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg.; (United States) Vol. 89:1; ISSN JTCSA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

550601* -- Medicine-- Unsealed Radionuclides in Diagnostics
62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE
AMIDES
ANEMIAS
ARTERIES
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS
BLOOD
BLOOD CELLS
BLOOD CIRCULATION
BLOOD VESSELS
BODY
BODY FLUIDS
CARBONIC ACID DERIVATIVES
CARBOXYLIC ACIDS
CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM
CHROMIUM 51
CHROMIUM ISOTOPES
DISEASES
ELECTRON CAPTURE RADIOISOTOPES
ERYTHROCYTES
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
GLOBIN
HEART
HEMIC DISEASES
HEMOGLOBIN
HETEROCYCLIC ACIDS
HETEROCYCLIC COMPOUNDS
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
ISOTOPE APPLICATIONS
ISOTOPES
MATERIALS
MEDICAL SUPPLIES
MEDICINE
NUCLEI
ORGANIC ACIDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
ORGANS
PATIENTS
PIGMENTS
PORPHYRINS
PROSTHESES
PROTEINS
RADIOISOTOPES
SURGERY
SURVIVAL CURVES
SYMPTOMS
THERAPY
TRACER TECHNIQUES
TRANSFUSIONS
UREA