TY - JOUR AU - Bolcal, Cengiz AU - Emrecan, Bilgin AU - Bingöl, Hakan AU - Ayik, Mehmet Fatih AU - Cingöz, Faruk AU - Yildirim, Vedat AU - Kuralay, Erkan AU - Demirkiliç, Ufuk AU - Kiliç, Selim AU - Tatar, Harun PY - 2006/10/09 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Does Combination of Antegrade and Retrograde Cardioplegia Reduce Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting-Related Conduction Defects? JF - The Heart Surgery Forum JA - HSF VL - 9 IS - 6 SE - DO - 10.1532/HSF98.20061100 UR - https://journal.hsforum.com/index.php/HSF/article/view/100 SP - E866-E870 AB - <p><b>Background.</b> Conduction disorders appearing after coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) may have many different causes. In this study, we evaluated the postoperative conduction disorders after CABG with respect to the ante-grade blood cardioplegia and ante-grade plus continuous retrograde cardioplegia delivery methods.</p><p><b>Materials and Methods.</b> This retrospective study included 1824 patients undergoing CABG between January 2001 and December 2005. There were 694 female patients (38%) and 1130 male patients (62%). Myocardial protection was done by isothermic hyperkalemic blood cardioplegia. Patents in Group 1 (n = 704) were operated on using only intermittent antegrade cardioplegia and those in group 2 (n = 1120) were operated on using the antegrade plus retrograde continuous cardioplegia. The postoperative occurrences of a new right bundle branch block, left anterior hemiblock, left posterior hemiblock, left bundle branch block, or third-degree atrioventricular block were evaluated and compared.</p><p><b>Results.</b> Total mortality rate was 1.6% (29 patients) without significant difference between the groups. The preoperative and perioperative characteristics were statistically similar in the groups. The occurrence of conduction disorders was significantly higher in group 1 (<i>P</i> = .006, 55 versus 52 patients). The analysis of the patients with conduction disorders showed a significantly increased mortality rate (<i>P</i> < .001) in addition to a significantly increased period of intensive care unit follow-up and duration of postoperative hospitalization (<i>P</i> <.001).</p><p><b>Conclusion.</b> The present study demonstrated that the perioperative occurrence of conduction disorders after CABG was decreased by antegrade controlled and retrograde continuous combination cardioplegia.</p> ER -