The effects of cardiopulmonary bypass on coronary blood flow in the dog.

The effects of cardiopulmonary bypass on autoregulation, maximum coronary flow, and regional blood flow in the heart were investigated in 25 dogs. A Gregg cannula was inserted into the left main coronary artery, and pressure-flow relations were then measured in the autoregulating state or with vasodilation produced by intracoronary adenosine infusion before, during, and after cardiopulmonary bypass. Seventeen of the dogs had radioactive microspheres injected to investigate regional blood flow changes at the same times. (1) Autoregulation was not present after bypass for at least 3 hours. (2) Blood flow was shifted toward the subendocardium on bypass (increased subendocardial/subepicardial ratio) and tended to return to prebypass distribution following bypass. (3) Blood flow after bypass was not significantly different to the subendocardium and subepicardium. (4) Response to a coronary vasodilator (maximum coronary flow) was significantly affected by cardiopulmonary bypass: blood flow to all layers of the heart could be increased with adenosine after bypass. (5) Global lactate and oxygen metabolism were not adversely affected by bypass. We conclude that cardiopulmonary bypass abolished the normal autoregulation of coronary flow; this may predispose the incompletely revascularized patient to a "coronary steal" syndrome. However, the heart with normal coronary arteries is not underperfused in any layer after bypass. Thus, the bypass technique is not the cause of the subendocardial ischemia that sometimes complicates cardiac operations.