Esmolol added in repeated, cold, oxygenated blood cardioplegia improves myocardial function after cardiopulmonary bypass.

OBJECTIVE

This study investigated if the β-receptor blocking agent esmolol, added to standard oxygenated blood cardioplegia, improved myocardial function after weaning from bypass.

DESIGN

A block-randomized, blinded study.

SETTING

A university laboratory.

PARTICIPANTS

Twenty anesthetized pigs, Norwegian Landrace.

INTERVENTIONS

After cardiopulmonary bypass, cardiac arrest was induced with cold (12°C), oxygenated blood cardioplegia, enriched with either esmolol or vehicle, repeated every 20 minutes. After 100 minutes the heart was reperfused and weaned.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

Left ventricular function was evaluated with pressure-volume loops, local myocardial function with multilayer strain and strain rate by epicardial short-axis tissue Doppler imaging. One hour after declamping, preload recruitable stroke work did not differ between groups, but increased to 72±3 mmHg in esmolol-treated animals v 57±4 mmHg (p<0.001) in controls after 3 hours. Radial peak ejection strain rate also was increased by esmolol; 6.0±1.0 s(-1)v 2.9±0.3 s(-1) (p<0.001) in subendocardium and 3.9±0.5 s(-1)v 2.3±0.2 s(-1) (p<0.005) in the midmyocardium. Cardiac index was increased, 4.0±0.2 L/min/m(2) by esmolol v 3.3±0.1 L/min/m(2) for controls (p<0.05). Isovolumetric relaxation time constant was reduced by esmolol, 23±1 ms v 26±1 ms (p<0.025). Troponin-T did not differ and was 339±48 ng/L for the esmolol group and 357±55 ng/L for the control group (p = 0.81).

CONCLUSIONS

Esmolol added to blood cardioplegia preserved systolic cardiac function during the first 3 hours after reperfusion in a porcine model with 100 minutes of cardioplegic arrest.