• Ferit Cicekcioglu, Anil Ozen, Hicran Tuluce, Ufuk Tutun, Ali Ihsan Parlar, Umit Kervan, Sirel Karakas, and Salih Fehmi Katircioglu.
• Cardiovascular Surgery Clinic, Turkiye Yuksek Ihtisas Hospital, Ankara, Turkey. fehmiege@yahoo.com
• J Card Surg. 2008 Mar 1; 23 (2): 114-9.

Background And Aim Of The StudyAlthough neurologic outcome after cardiac surgery is well-established, neurocognitive functions after beating heart mitral valve replacement still needs to be elucidated. The aim of this study was to compare preoperative and postoperative neurocognitive functions in patients who underwent beating heart mitral valve replacement on cardiopulmonary bypass without cross-clamping the aorta.MethodsThe prospective study included 25 consecutive patients who underwent mitral valve replacement. The operations were carried out on a beating heart method using normothermic cardiopulmonary bypass without cross-clamping the aorta. All patients were evaluated preoperatively (E1) and postoperatively (at sixth day [E2] and second month [E3]) for neurocognitive functions.ResultsNeurologic deficit was not observed in the postoperative period. Comparison of the neurocognitive test results, between the preoperative and postoperative assessment for both hemispheric cognitive functions, demonstrated that no deterioration occurred. In the three subsets of left hemispheric cognitive function test evaluation, total verbal learning, delayed recall, and recognition, significant improvements were detected at the postoperative second month (E3) compared to the preoperative results (p = 0.005, 0.01, and 0.047, respectively). Immediate recall and retention were significantly improved within the first postoperative week (E2) when compared to the preoperative results (p = 0.05 and 0.05, respectively).ConclusionsThe technique of mitral valve replacement with normothermic cardiopulmonary bypass without cross-clamping of the aorta may be safely used for majority of patients requiring mitral valve replacement without causing deterioration in neurocognitive functions.

29 keywords...

hide…