Effects of hypothermia, hemodilution, and pump oxygenation on organ water content, blood flow and oxygen delivery, and renal function.

Hypothermia, hemodilution, and the pump-oxygenator each contribute important effects during cardiopulmonary bypass. We studied their separate effects with a 2(3) factorial, completely fixed experimental design in 16 adult male mongrel dogs. Animals undergoing hypothermia were cooled to 25 degrees +/- 1 degree C. In dogs having hemodilution, hematocrit was adjusted to 25 +/- 2%. An analysis of variance was used to determine the effects of hypothermia, hemodilution, and pump oxygenation. The experiments show that hemodilution produces increased water content in tissue and that edema is greatest in heart and gastrointestinal organs. The pump-oxygenator decreased flow to the subendocardium, whereas hemodilution increased subendocardial flow. Both hypothermia and pump oxygenation diminished flow to the outer kidney cortex, and hemodilution augmented flow to this region. Hypothermia and pump oxygenation decreased and hemodilution raised renal free-water clearance. Although none affected glomerular filtration rate, hypothermia increased filtration fraction while hemodilution diminished it. Hypothermia lessened cerebral cortical flow, an effect opposite that of hemodilution. Thus, hemodilution opposes the adverse effect of hypothermia or pump oxygenation on blood flow, oxygen delivery, or renal function. Increased water content in gastrointestinal organs and myocardium accompanies the beneficial vascular and renal effects of hemodilution.