Right ventricle contractility during early postoperative period after coronary artery bypass grafting with cardiopulmonary bypass

Emphasis in this research was placed on contractility of the right ventricle with regard to its relationship with systemic hemodynamics in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) under cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). The study included 25 patients (14 males, 11 females, mean age was 58±7 years) admitted to ICU after CABG under CPB. All patients required inotropic therapy. The criterion for prescribing inotropic support in the postoperative period was a drop of the stroke volume index of the left ventricle below 35 ml/m 2 provided that the values of this indicator were normal before the perfusion period. Patients with previous pathology of the right ventricle or right coronary artery were excluded from the study. To evaluate the right ventricular function and systemic hemodynamics indicators, use was made of the PiCCO plus system and VoLEF addon device. It was found out that reduced contractility of the right ventricle may cause the reduction in stroke volume of the left ventricle with normal contractility. It was also observed that the increase of preload in patients with right ventricular ejection fraction less than 30% does not improve its function but leads to the increase of its end-diastolic volume. In 68% of cases, the need in inotropic agents in the early postoperative period after CABG was associated with the drop in right ventricle contractility, in 40% - with isolated right ven-tricular dysfunction. Patients with isolated reduction in right ventricle contractility required a longer period of inotropic support and ICU stay as compared with those with left ventricular failure.