Comparison between the Effects of Bretschneider’s HTK Solution and Cold Blood Cardioplegia on Systemic Endothelial Functions in Patients who Undergo Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery: a Prospective Randomized and Controlled Trial

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of Bretschneider’s histidine-tryptophan-ketoglutarate (HTK) solution and cold blood cardioplegia on systemic endothelial functions. METHODS: A total of 50 patients who underwent isolated coronary artery bypass surgery between March 2018 and May 2018 were randomly divided into two groups - group 1 (Bretschneider’s HTK solution, n=25) and group 2 (cold blood cardioplegia, n=25). Data related to the indicators of endothelial dysfunction were recorded. Flow-mediated dilation was measured together with the assessment of the values of endothelin-1, von Willebrand factor, and asymmetric dimethylarginine to identify endothelial dysfunction. Then, the two groups were compared regarding these values. RESULTS: The most significant result of our study was that the endothelin-1 level was significantly higher in group 2 than in group 1 (P<0.001). The value of flow-mediated dilation was found to increase to a lesser degree on the postoperative days compared to the value at the day of admission in group 1 (P=0.002 and P=0.030, respectively). CONCLUSION: Cardiopulmonary bypass leads to endothelial dysfunction. Our results revealed that Bretschneider’s HTK solution causes less severe endothelial injury than cold blood cardioplegia.