The technological advances of recent years have permitted a wide range of uses for intraaort balloon pumping (IABP) to support acute cardiac failure in many clinical condition. In spite of this, some complications related to its insertion, duration of use and location have been described. The aim of his study was to investigate the incidence of infections in severely compromised postoperative cardiac patients undergoing IABP therapy. Between January 1990 and July 1992, the records of 97 patients that required IABP support after cardiac surgery were reviewed, but only 55 met the criteria to be included. The analysis consited of: incidence of infections, culture results, type and duration of by-pass and surgery duration of intravascular catheterization and clinical outcome. The following sites of infection were considered: lung, urine, blood, surgical incision and IABP catheter insertion. The mean time of procedures were: IABP= 3.9 ± 2.01 days surgery an by-pass equal to 8.0 and 2.5 hours respectively. We observed a high incidence of infection in these patients, mainly pneumonia (63.6%). The IABP insertion infection rate was 7.0% higher than our general postoperative wound infection rate (3.0%). Although this relatively higher incidence of infection may not directly relate to the martality rate, we suggest that these patients must have extremely careful surveillance for ocurrence of infections and possible prophylactic measures regarding pulmonary infections.
intra-aortic balloon pump; intra-aortic balloon pump; counterpulsation in heart surgery