The first experience in using selective sorbents in complex intensive care of patients with infectious and septic complications after cardiac surgery

Early in the new millennium, sepsis remains one of the most urgent problems of modern medicine as before in view of a steady tendency for a rise of morbidity rates and for stably high mortality rates in patients (from 30 to 70%). The endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of the cell wall of gram-negative bacteria plays the most important role in the pathogenesis of sepsis. This paper assesses the first experience in using endotoxin-selective sorption technologies within complex intensive care of critically ill patients with infectious and septic complications after cardiac surgery. Group 1 comprised 6 patients undergoing Alteco LPS adsorption procedures. Group 2 included 5 patients having hemoperfusion using Polymixin B-based Toraymyxin columns. The authors'first experience in clinically using LPS adsorption suggests that it is absolutely expedient to include extracorporeal selective hemoperfusion into the complex intensive care for infectious and septic complications in patients after operations on the heart and vessels.