Effects of reduced pulse pressure to the cerebral metabolism during prolonged nonpulsatile left heart bypass

We investigated changes in the cerebral metabolism with long-term reduced pulse pressure. Nine goats underwent pulsatile left heart bypass (LHB) for 2 weeks while awake, and nonpulsatile LHB was subsequently conducted for 4 weeks. The average pulse pressure during nonpulsatile LHB (13, 10, 11, and 11 mm Hg at the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th nonpulsatile LHB week, respectively) was significantly lower than that during pulsatile LHB (36 mm Hg). There were no significant differences in either arterio-jugular venous oxygen differences (AJDO2) and cerebral oxygen extraction ratio between the 2nd pulsatile LHB week and the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th nonpulsatile LHB weeks. The arterio-jugular venous glucose differences, jugular venous-arterial lactate differences (JAD Lactate), and lactate oxygen indexes (JAD Lactate/AJDO2) also remained unchanged during the entire course of the experiments. In conclusion, the cerebral metabolism during nonpulsatile LHB did not change compared to that during pulsatile LHB.