Heart Guard

The Heart Guard technology is a system for continual measurement of cardiac metabolism. Heart Guard is designed to support controlled cardiac arrest (cardioplegic arrest) during heart surgery. Heart Guard has the potential to reduce mortality and the rate of severe complications resulting from a suboptimal cardioplegia effect on the cellular level. 

In current clinical practice, cardioplegic protection of an arrested heart is beyond our control. In some patients, severe heart failure is observed soon after restoring physiological blood flow through the heart. This complication occurs when the metabolism of the cells has not been completely stopped by cardioplegia. Even when the heart seems completely arrested, cell metabolism may be still active. Active cells require oxygen, but oxygen delivery has been halted. This results in anaerobic metabolism and ultimately the death of the cells. Anaerobic metabolism can be measured by the change in tissue acidosis. A significant decrease in the pH of an arrested heart is a risk factor for death and severe complications after cardiac surgery.

More: www.heartguard.pl