Acid-base abnormalities in humans associated with the use of the Gibbon-Mayo pump: Flow rates of 2 to 24 liters per square meter of body surface per minute

Abstract

Summary<ul><li>1.With use of a Gibbon-Mayo pump with a flow rate of 2 to 2.4 L. per square meter of body surface area per minute and after an average time of 39 minutes of bypass, less metabolic acidosis was found to be present in the blood than was present in the donor blood prior to bypass. The blood oxygen arteriovenous differences are acceptable (artery, 96 per cent; vein, 67 per cent).</li><li>2.The poor clinical status, metabolic acidosis, and marked arteriovenous differences in pH, CO₂, pCO₂, and oxygen saturation observed in some of the patients develop postoperatively and are probably due to poor cardiac output or vasospasm or a combination of both. Possible causes for this state have been enumerated.</li><li>3.Studies are in progress to evaluate directly the cardiac output of these patients in the postoperative state.</li></ul>