Modified Ultrafiltration Reduces Morbidity After Adult Cardiac Operations

Background Extracorporeal circulation contributes to morbidity after open-heart surgery by causing a systemic inflammatory reaction. Modified ultrafiltration is a technique able to remove the fluid overload and inflammatory mediators associated with use of cardiopulmonary bypass. It has been shown to reduce morbidity after cardiac operations in children, but the impact on adult cardiac procedures is unknown. Methods and Results Five hundred seventy-three consecutive adult patients were prospectively randomized to either ultrafiltration after cardiopulmonary bypass (treatment) or to no ultrafiltration (control). Parsonnet score was used to assess the severity of the patients’ clinical conditions. Analysis was done with Student’s t test or Mann-Whitney U test for continuous variables and Fisher’s exact test or Pearson’s χ2 for discrete variables. Hospital mortality was 2.5% (7 of 284) in the treatment group versus 3.8% (11 of 289) in the control group (P=0.357). Hospital morbidity was lower in treated patie...