Background Reperfusion injury can occur after a long period of aortic cross-clamping in patients with left ventricular hypertrophy during open-heart surgery, even with the most up-to-date techniques of myocardial protection. In the present study, we examined whether leukocyte depletion as an adjunct to terminal blood cardioplegia (LDTC) attenuates reperfusion injury in patients with left ventricular hypertrophy (LV mass, >300 g; left ventricular end-systolic volume index, >100 mL/m²) in a group of 30 patients undergoing aortic valve replacement.

Methods and Results We used basic cold potassium crystalloid cardioplegic solution. Terminal blood cardioplegic solution (TC) or LDTC was accomplished by mixing a cold potassium crystalloid cardioplegic solution with warm arterial blood obtained through cardiopulmonary bypass and administered to the aortic root for the first 10 minutes of reperfusion. During delivery of LDTC, warm arterial blood was passed through a leukocyte-removal filter. Patients were randomized into one of three groups for reperfusion: whole blood (WB) (n=10), TC (n=10), and LDTC (n=10). Left ventricular biopsies were obtained before ischemia, at the end of ischemia, and 15 minutes after reperfusion. Semiquantitative scoring for ultrastructural alterations indicated that the LDTC group achieved significantly better recoveries of both scores at reperfusion for myocyte damage and for endothelial cell damage of capillaries than did the WB and TC groups. The LDTC group had significantly fewer neutrophils adhering to endothelial cells at reperfusion and a lower level of malondialdehyde derived from myocardium than did the WB and TC groups. Regarding the clinical data, the LDTC group had a lower maximum creatine kinase–MB, a higher percentage of spontaneous defibrillation, a lower pulmonary capillary wedge pressure, and a lower requirement for dopamine than did the WB group, whereas the TC group failed to do better than the WB group.

Conclusions These results demonstrate that leukocyte-depleted reperfusion is potentially beneficial as an adjunct to terminal cardioplegia during cardiac surgery to attenuate reperfusion injury in patients with left ventricular hypertrophy.