The effects of deep hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass and total circulatory arrest on cerebral blood flow in infants and children

Cardiopulmonary bypass management in infants and children involves extensive alterations in temperature, hemodilution, and perfusion pressure, with occasional periods of circulatory arrest. Despite the use of these biologic extremes of temperature and perfusion, their effects on cerebral blood flow are unknown. This study was designed to examine the relationship of mean arterial pressure and nasopharyngeal temperature to cerebral blood flow during deep hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass (18 degrees to 22 degrees C) with and without periods of total circulatory arrest. Cerebral blood flow was measured before, during, and after deep hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass using xenon clearance techniques in 25 children, aged 2 days to 60 months. Fourteen patients underwent repair with circulatory arrest. There was a highly significant correlation of cerebral blood flow with temperature during cardiopulmonary bypass (p = 0.007). During deep hypothermic bypass there was a significant association between cerebral blood flow and mean arterial pressure (p = 0.027). In infants undergoing repair with deep hypothermia alone, cerebral blood flow returned to prebypass levels in the rewarming phase of bypass. However, in patients undergoing repair with circulatory arrest, no significant increase in cerebral blood flow during rewarming or even after bypass was observed (p = 0.01). These data show that deep hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass significantly decreases cerebral blood flow because of temperature reduction. Under conditions of deep hypothermia, cerebral pressure-flow autoregulation is lost. This study also demonstrates that cerebral reperfusion after deep hypothermia is impaired if the patient is exposed to a period of total circulatory arrest.