Administration of L: -arginine and aprotinin may lead to amelioration of intestinal I/R injury. We did not note a synergistic or additive effect of these two substances. These findings warrant further studies in clinical settings for future treatment efforts.

No abstract

The purpose of this study was the evaluation of Morlet wavelet analysis of the P wave as a means of predicting the development of atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients who undergo coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). The P wave was analyzed using the Morlet wavelet in 50 patients who underwent successful CABG. Group A consisted of 17 patients, 12 men and 5 women, of mean age 66.9 +/- 5.9 years, who developed AF postoperatively. Group B consisted of 33 patients, 29 men and 4 women, mean age 62.4 +/- 7.8 years, who remained arrhythmid-free. Using custom-designed software, P wave duration and wavelet parameters expressing the mean and maximum energy of the P wave were calculated from 3-channel digital recordings derived from orthogonal ECG leads (X, Y, and Z), and the vector magnitude (VM) was determined in each of 3 frequency bands (200-160 Hz, 150-100 Hz and 90-50 Hz). Univariate logistic-regression analysis identified a history of hypertension, the mean and maximum energies in all frequency bands along the Z axis, the mean and maximum energies (expressed by the VM) in the 200-160 Hz frequency band, and the mean energy in the 150-100 Hz frequency band along the Y axis as predictors for post-CABG AF. Multivariate analysis identified hypertension, ejection fraction, and the maximum energies in the 90-50 Hz frequency band along the Z and composite-vector axes as independent predictors. This multivariate model had a sensitivity of 91% and a specificity of 65%. We conclude that the Morlet wavelet analysis of the P wave is a very sensitive method of identifying patients who are likely to develop AF after CABG. The occurrence of post-CABG AF can be explained by a different activation pattern along the Z axis.

Synchronous cholecystectomy and open heart surgery can be performed safely in selected patients.