Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

According to a new study, if patients are administered with nitric oxide gas during heart surgery or for the next 24 hours after heart surgery then it may reduce the chances of patients developing acute or chronic kidney disorders. The study, published recently in the journal American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine was carried out in China. For the study, the research team worked with 224 adults from Xi’an, China, who had underwent heart surgery in the past for replacement of one or more heart valve. Heart valve replacement surgeries are often long and requires that the patients be placed on cardiopulmonary bypass, a machine that supports the lungs and the heart during surgery.

Lorenzo Berra, lead author of the study and medical director of respiratory care at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston said, “Previous studies showed that prolonged cardiopulmonary bypass causes disruption of circulating red blood cells and the release of hemoglobin, which can cause acute kidney injury, leading to kidney failure and the need for long-term hemodialysis. We tested whether administration of nitric oxide, a gas normally produced by cells in the lining of blood vessels, might render hemoglobin ‘inert,’ thereby decreasing the risk of both acute and chronic kidney injury.” Results showed that patients who were exposed to about 80 parts per million of nitric oxide during their bypass procedure were at a very low risk of developing injuries in the kidney A decrease of 64 percent was seen in the patients treated using placebo methods to 50 percent in the patients who were treated with nitric oxide.

Scientists also report that they also saw a significant decrease in the overall mortality rate after a year- 6 and 3 percent in patients treated with the placebo method and nitric oxide respectively. A lot of drugs were already used in the past but proved to be ineffective against kidney disorders that usually develop after heart surgery. This method could also prove beneficial because the administration of nitric oxide did not have any hazardous effects on the patients, but the scientists do warn readers that the results of the study may not be similar for everyone. In this particular study all the patients were young, mostly in their 40s and underwent the same type of surgery.

 

 

By Purnima

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