Impaired cardiac autonomic nervous control after cardiac bypass surgery for congenital heart disease

McGlone, Laura and Patel, Neil and Young, David and Danton, Mark D., Financial Support Department of Cardiac Surgery and Cardiology, The Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Yorkhill, Glasgow (Funder) (2009) Impaired cardiac autonomic nervous control after cardiac bypass surgery for congenital heart disease. Interactive Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, 9 (2). pp. 218-222. ISSN 1569-9293 (https://doi.org/10.1510/icvts.2008.194555)

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Abstract

We undertook a study to describe changes in heart rate variability (HRV) postoperatively in children undergoing cardiac bypass surgery for congenital heart disease (CHD). HRV was recorded for a 1-h period preoperatively and a 24-h period postoperatively in 20 children with CHD. We found a highly significant reduction in HRV in both time and frequency domain indices compared to preoperative values, which was sustained throughout the 24-h study period. There was a negative correlation between both time and frequency domain HRV measurements and length of cardiac bypass. HRV is reduced postoperatively and correlates with cardiac bypass time. Length of cardiac bypass time may be one mechanism whereby HRV is reduced following surgery.