Cardiac and neurological assessment of normothermia/warm blood cardioplegia vs hypothermia/cold crystalloid cardioplegia in pediatric cardiac surgery : insight from a prospective randomized trial.

Although normothermia and warm blood cardioplegia are widely used in adults, cold crystalloids and hypothermia remain routinely used in pediatric cardiac surgery. The superiority of either technique in both brain and myocardial protection remains controversial. We designed a prospective randomized study to compare both approaches in terms of early myocardial protection and late neurodevelopmental status