Aortic valve replacement in cardioplegic heart arrest

: The St. Thomas cardioplegic solution was introduced in our clinic in January, 1980. Before, aortic valve replacements were carried out using cold ischaemic cardiac arrest as myocardial preservation technique. In 62 aortic valve replacements performed since January 1980, there was no hospital mortality. Moreover, there were fewer intraoperative and postoperative complications. Intraoperative serum potassium was not essentially elevated after cardioplegic perfusion of the heart, although most of the cardioplegic effluate passed into the extracorporeal circulation. Postoperative serum-creatinphosphokinase levels were significantly higher after cold ischaemic arrest than after cardioplegia.