[Use of the Cerebral Function Monitor in cardiac surgery].

Having employed routinely the monitor of cerebral function in cardiac surgery operations for about a year, the authors now present an analysis of the variations in the traces of a group of 57 patients. They have found, when there is no major haemodynamic consequence associated with the induction of anaesthesia, and when there are no difficulties of a surgical or a technical nature accompanying the artificial extra-corporeal circulation, that the monitor curve stays perfectly stable. On the other hand, all sudden haemodynamic changes result in hypotension (haemorrhage, dysrhythmia, and a fall in flow in the extracorporeal circulation) that is reflected in the level of the monitor curve which also falls. They conclude, using examples of certain variations, that the monitor curve is a supplementary form of surveillance and that the trace recorded simultaneously with the anaesthetic sheet allows retrospective analysis of the haemodynamic events to be performed for each operation.