During the cardiopulmonary baypass uncovered the effects of some mediators on respiratory functions

Heart-lung machine, which has great impact on improvement of cardiac surgery techniques, has limited usability and validity because of its harmful effects on many organ systems. The harmful effects of the heart-lung machine, also described as post-perfusion syndrome or generalized inflammatory response, might require long term intensive care support and lengthen hospital stay. In some cases, this might lead to multiple organ failures and even death. Understanding the biology of this inflammatory response continues to be the focus of current cardiac surgery research trials.In our report, we compared the plasma levels of cardiolipin, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), elastase; FEV1 and FVC values in preoperative and postoperative spirometry analyses of a group of 25 patients who underwent coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) with cardio-pulmonary bypass (CPB) to a group of 10 patients who underwent CABG without CPB; preoperative and postoperative periods were compared and effects on lung and respiratory function was analyzed.Patients operated using CPB had significantly higher postoperative levels of elastase, which has distinctive role in humoral amplification system in systemic inflammatory response. Levels of VEGF and cardiolipin, which also have similar functions in inflammatory response, were not significantly increased.All patients, whether operated using CPB or not, were observed to have serious reductions of FEV1 and FVC values postoperatively.Key words: Heart lung machine, cardiopulmoner bypass, cardiolipin, vascularendothelial growth factor, elastase.