Adequate distribution of warm cardioplegic solution.

Seventy-five patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting were randomized to receive warm antegrade (N = 25), warm retrograde (N = 25), or a combination of warm antegrade and retrograde (N = 25) delivery of blood cardioplegic solution. Myocardial oxygen utilization, lactate and acid metabolism, and adenine nucleotides and their degradation products were measured during the operation and cardiac function was assessed postoperatively. Warm retrograde delivery of cardioplegic solution increased lactate and acid release during cardioplegia and reperfusion, decreased left ventricular adenosine triphosphate concentrations, and reduced the washout of adenine nucleotide degradation products from both left and right ventricles. Warm antegrade delivery of cardioplegic solution resulted in less lactate and acid release during cardioplegia but more lactate accumulated in the territory of the left anterior descending artery during the crossclamp period. Intermittent antegrade delivery of the cardioplegic solution during combination cardioplegia washed out lactate and acid, which suggested inhomogeneous delivery of the cardioplegic solution during continuous retrograde cardioplegia. Combination cardioplegia best preserved adenosine triphosphate in the left ventricle and resulted in the best postoperative left and right ventricular function. A combination of intermittent antegrade and continuous retrograde delivery of cardioplegic solution provided better myocardial protection than either antegrade or retrograde delivery of cardioplegic solution alone.