Carbon Dioxide Field Flooding Minimizes Residual Intracardiac Air After Open Heart Operations

• Published in: The Annals of thoracic surgery Vol. 64; no. 5; pp. 1489 - 1491
• Main Authors: Webb, Watts R., Harrison, Lynn H., Helmcke, Frederic R., Camino-Lopez, Asuncion, Munfakh, Nabil A., Heck, Herman A., Moulder, Peter V.
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.11.1997; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Air; Biological and medical sciences; Carbon Dioxide - administration & dosage; Cardiac Surgical Procedures; Heart; Humans; Intraoperative Period; Medical sciences; Postoperative Complications - prevention & control; Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases; Surgery of the heart; Sonography; Heart; Human; Postoperative; Echocardiography; Carbon dioxide; Cardiovascular disease; Exploration; Air; Esophagus; Treatment; Cardiac valvular disease; Surgery; Ultrasonic transducer
• ISSN: 0003-4975; 1552-6259
• DOI: 10.1016/S0003-4975(97)00945-4

Transesophageal echocardiographic studies were used to monitor the presence of air bubbles in the heart after open heart operations. After cardiac valvular procedures all 22 patients managed with careful deairing procedures had persistence of air bubbles for at least 30 minutes and usually for 45 minutes. In 56 patients with CO 2 field flooding, all foam disappeared in less than 1 minute in 48 patients and the remaining 8 had complete disappearance in 1 to 24 minutes. These observations demonstrate the ineffectiveness of the usual deairing maneuvers and the effectiveness of CO 2 field flooding in displacing air.