Fibrin Glue in Open Heart Surgery

New techniques of blood clotting and tissue glueing have been developed in the past few years with the aim of diminishing blood loss. In open heart surgery, caused by longer phases of extracorporeal circulation, blood clotting is often disturbed, followed by long - lasting blood trickling out of stitch channels and adhesions which have been cut through. Furthermore the impossibility of physiologically clotting vascular prostheses and patches during extracorporeal circulation means greater blood loss. It was therefore obvious to try these new techniques to diminish blood loss and operation times, on one hand, and the infection rate as a parameter of long operation times as well as rethoracotomy on the other.