Search

Thirty-three patients underwent extensive cardiorespiratory monitoring during cardiac surgery. Recordings of measurements, with derived variables, were made preoperatively, postoperatively, and after extubation approximately 3 h after operation. The data provide a reference that allows decisions on whether the condition of a patient after cardiac surgery deviates from the ordinary course. Details are given of the spontaneous ventilation test which taken together with monitored data provided criteria for successful early extubation in uncomplicated cases.

The purpose of this study was to determine the consequence of intermittent mandatory ventilation (IMV) on gas exchange, cardiac function, and blood oxygenation immediately after cardiopulmonary bypass grafting. The results showed a marked increase in oxygen uptake, cardiac index, and pulmonary artery pressure, and a decrease in mixed venous oxygen saturation of 20 adult patients recovering from surgery. These effects may have been associated with the presence of an endotracheal tube, because 2 h after removal of this tube there were significant decreases in elevated cardiac function and blood oxygenation variables, while mixed venous oxygen saturation increased from 64% to 75% (p less than .001). These results suggest that IMV can dramatically increase oxygen uptake, cardiac index, and pulmonary artery pressure in awake and intubated patients.

In response to the increasing abilities to provide continuous and detailed information on the cardiopulmonary status during and after open heart surgery, we measured hemodynamic and pulmonary functions including cardiac index, end-tidal CO2, minute volume, dead space, ventilation/perfusion ratio, O2 consumption, and other derived variables with a mass spectrometer. This was found useful, for example, in evaluating the need for artificial ventilation in postoperative cardiac patients.