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Introduction Cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is a recognized trigger of systemic inflammatory response, usually related to postoperative acute lung injury (ALI). As an attempt to dampen inflammatory response, steroids have been perioperatively administered to patients. Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), a regulator of the endotoxin receptor, is implicated in the pathogenesis of ALI. We have previously detected peak circulating levels of MIF, 6 hours post CPB. Experimental data have shown that steroids may induce MIF secretion by mononuclear cells. This study aims to correlate levels of MIF assayed 6 hours post CPB to the intensity of postoperative pulmonary dysfunction, analysing the impact of perioperative steroid administration. MethodsWe included patients submitted to cardiac surgery with CPB, electively started in the morning, performed by the same team under a standard technique except for the addition of methylprednisolone (15 mg/kg) to the CPB priming solution for patients from group MP (n = 37), but not for the remaining patients -group NS (n = 37). MIF circulating levels were assayed at the anesthesia induction, 3, 6, and 24 hours after CPB. A standard weaning protocol with fast track strategy was adopted, and indicators of organ dysfunction and therapeutic intervention were registered during the first 72 hours postoperative.Results Levels of MIF assayed 6 hours post CPB correlated directly to the postoperative duration of mechanical ventilation (P = 0.014, rho = 0.282) and inversely to PaO 2 /FiO 2 ratio (P = 0.0021, rho = -0.265). No difference in MIF levels was noted between the groups. The duration of mechanical ventilation was higher (P = 0.005) in the group MP (7.92 ± 6.0 hours), compared with the group NS (4.92 ± 3.6 hours). ConclusionCirculating levels of MIF assayed 6 hours post CPB are correlated to postoperative pulmonary performance. Immunosuppressive doses of methylprednisolone did not affect circulating levels of MIF and may be related to prolonged mechanical ventilation. P2Immediate and short-term safety of catheter-based autologous bone marrow-derived mononuclear cell transplantation into myocardium of patients with severe ischemic heart failure Background Bone marrow-derived mononuclear cell (BM-MNC) transplantation into the myocardium has been proposed as a new therapy for ischemic heart failure (HF). Successful cellular therapy for HF using myoblast transplantation has been reported previously but malignant arrhythmias (MA) were an issue. We investigated the safety of BM-MNC transplantation into the myocardium for MA.Methods A prospective study to evaluate the safety of autologous BM-MNC transplantation in patients with severe ischemic HF not amenable to myocardial revascularization was conducted. Bone marrow was harvested from the iliac crest and BM-MNCs were selected by Ficoll gradient. Hibernating myocardium areas were targeted using electromechanical mapping in catheter-based subendocardial injections (MyoStar, Cordis, Miami Lakes, FL, USA). All patien...

Objectives: In the treatment of acute myocardial infarction (MI), the time delay to achieve reperfusion of the infarction-related artery has been linked to survival rates. Primary or direct angioplasty has been found to be an excellent means of achieving reperfusion in acute ST-elevation MI compared to thrombolytic therapy in randomized trials. However, no mortality benefit of primary angioplasty over thrombolysis was observed in several registries, in which delays in performing primary angioplasty were longer. Our objectives were to evaluate the door-to-balloon time (DBT) in our institution and investigate its relationship with clinical and prognostic variables. Methods:We studied, retrospectively, 67 patients submitted to primary angioplasty, from January 1999 to November 2000. We divided our patient population into two groups. Group A (GA) included patients with DBT less than 120 min and group B (GB) patients with DBT greater or equal to 120 min. We evaluated several clinical variables, such as left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) on their first echocardiogram during hospitalization, admission Killip classification, in-hospital length of stay (LOS) and major cardiovascular events (MACE) during hospitalization and up to 6-month follow-up (in 23 patients). Results:The median DBT was 132 min and the mean was 165 min, with a standard deviation of 137 min for all the cases. We had 32 patients in the GA and 35 patients (52%) in the GB. We observed four in-hospital deaths, all in GB. The mean LVEF was 53.1 ± 9% in GA and 46.1 ± 13% in GB (P = 0.059). Admission Killip class greater than 1 was noted in three patients of each group. The in-hospital LOS was similar for both groups (GA = 8.35 ± 4 and GB = 8.33 ± 4 days; NS). In-hospital events occurred in eight patients of GA (25%) and seven patients of GB (20%; NS). Only five follow-up events occurred during the first 6 months, three events in GA patients and two in GB patients (NS). Conclusion:DBT greater than or equal to 2 h are common and in our population it occurred in more than half of the primary angioplasties. Greater than 2 h DBTs were associated with a trend to larger left ventricular dysfunction early after MI. Monitoring and measures to reduce DBT are crucial for the potential prognosis improvement offered by primary angioplasty and for the broadening of its use in the management of acute MI. P2Primary angioplasty versus streptokinase in elderly patients with acute myocardial infarction PF Leite, M Park, VS Kawabata, MS Barduco, S Timerman, LF Cardoso, JAF Ramires Heart Institute (InCor), University of São Paulo Medical School, São Paulo, Brazil Because only a few studies about acute myocardial infarction (AMI) include elderly patients, we compared outcomes of patients aged 70 years or older with AMI who underwent thrombolysis or primary angioplasty treatment. Methods:From April 1995 to June 1999, 64 patients within 12 h of symptom onset and no contraindications for thrombolytic therapy were randomized in two groups. Group I (32 patients, 20 men) sub...

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CARDIOLOGY P1 Impact of peroperative administration of steroid over inflammatory response and pulmonary dysfunction following cardiac surgery