Late Improvement in Blood Cell Filterability and Cardiac Function Following Open Heart Surgery

Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and valve replacement (VR) were performed in 50 patients respectively, and these two groups participated in a prospective study wherein the authors investigated the changes of blood cell fiterability, exercise tolerance, ejection fraction (EF), and NYHA classes. The CABG group showed significant (p < 0.001) improvement in both red cell filtration rate (RFR) and white cell filtration rate (WFR) at the follow-up time. This was still, however, significantly lower (p < 0.01) than the reference values of healthy individuals in the same age range. Similar results were also seen in the VR group regarding filterability. In the CABG group, significant improvements in exercise tolerance (p < 0.001), EF (p < 0.001), and NYHA classes (p < 0.001) were seen in the postoperative period. In the VR group a similar postoperative improvement was registered both in EF (p < 0.003) and NYHA classes (p < 0.001). This study demonstrates an improvement in exercise tolerance, EF, NYHA classes, RFR, and WFR in both groups postoperatively. However the blood cell filterability was still disturbed even two years postoperatively, suggesting that the effects of the primary disease were not reversed and that surgical treatment produced excellent palliation and a good potential to improve quality of life.