Brain Oxygen Saturation Aids Heart Surgery Patients

Several studies have demonstrated that monitoring and maintaining cerebral oxygen saturation can reduce the incidence of stroke and coma in heart-surgery patients. The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) in New Orleans (LA, USA).

A significant number of heart surgery patients experience serious neurologic complications, including stroke and coma, due to cerebral oxygen desaturation. The risk is greater in patients over 70 and those with more-advanced disease. A prior study by Fun-Sun F. Yao, M.D., an anesthesiologist at Cornell University (New York, NY, USA), had found that patients whose cerebral oxygenation dropped below 30% were five times more likely to have a stroke or go into a coma after their procedures than patients whose oxygenation stayed at or above 30%

In a new study of 286 surgical patients, Dr. Yao found that a group of 161 of these who had interventions to maintain cerebral oxygen saturation had less than one-sixth the incidence of neurologic complications as the 125 patients in the control group. Using cerebral oximetry as a guide, anesthesiologists used a specific sequence of interventions on the first group, including increasing oxygen, carbon dioxide, blood pressure, blood volume, and the depth of anesthesia as needed. Another study, conducted by anesthesiologists at the University of California-San Francisco (USA), showed that administering oxygen to acutely anemic volunteers reversed some types of neurologic problems, as measured by cognitive tests.

"The key to reducing these neurologic complications lies in the rigorous monitoring and maintenance of cerebral oxygen saturation during surgery,” said Dr. Yao.




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