Oxygen Free Radical (OFR) Generation During Cardiac Surgery Induces Lipid Peroxidation and

This study was done to find out whether free radical generation during car-diac surgery results in increasing lipid peroxidation (LPO) in blood and to see whether this could partly explain reduction of blood cell rheology during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Ten patients undergoing cardiac surgery using CPB were prospectively studied. Malondialdehyde (MDA) was measured as a marker of free-radical-induced LPO, and blood cell trauma was estimated by measuring blood cell rheology. During CPB, MDA increased, while blood cell rheology decreased significantly, especially after aortic declamping. There were significant correlations between LPO and blood cell rheology. It is concluded that free radicals generated during CPB lead to an increase of LPO, which is shown to be associated with a decrease of blood cell rheology