Comparison of pressures of radial artery, femoral artery and aorta, and assessment of gradients amongst each other in patients undergoing open heart surgery under cardiopulmonary bypass.

In this prospective clinical study, we aimed to compare the pressures of radial artery, femoral artery and aorta, and to assess the gradients amongst each other in patients undergoing open heart surgery.After ethics approval and patient informed consent, 30 adult patients (mean age: 54 year, mean weight: 70 kg) were included. Pressures (mm Hg) of radial artery, femoral artery and aorta were determined at the following mentioned times: (i) 5 min before cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), (ii) at the 5th min of CBP and (iii) 5 min after weaning from CPB. One way analysis of variance and Bonferroni test were used for statistical analysis and p<0.05 was considered significant.Higher aortic systolic (101, p=0.00), diastolic (60, p=0.02) and mean (74, p=0.00) pressures, and higher radial artery systolic (101, p=0.00) and mean (73, p=0.01) pressures were obtained compared to femoral artery pressures (91, 53, 67, respectively) before starting CPB.Higher aortic systolic (79, p=0.00), diastolic (49, p=0.03) and mean (60, p= 0.00) pressures, and higher femoral artery systolic (79, p=0.00), diastolic (48, p=0.04) and mean (60, p=0.00) pressures were obtained compared to radial artery pressures (69, 42, 53, respectively) during CPB.Higher aortic systolic (101, p=0.00), diastolic (58, p=0.00) and mean (72, p= 0.00) pressures, and higher femoral artery systolic (100, p=0.00) and mean (69, p=0.00) pressures were obtained compared to radial artery pressures (91, 48, 61, respectively) after separation from CPB.Central (aortic) pressure was determined better by radial artery pressure before CPB, whereas by femoral artery pressure during and after CPB.